


Star Trek: Forward Through Time

by SingingInTheRaiin



Series: The Wacky Adventures of Amanda and Sarek [1]
Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Aliens, F/M, Time Travel, duh - Freeform, so that might get a little confusing, stuff gets crazy around here, two sets of the main pair
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-04
Updated: 2018-02-04
Packaged: 2019-03-13 13:20:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 26
Words: 33,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13571394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SingingInTheRaiin/pseuds/SingingInTheRaiin
Summary: This is after the events of the first movie. Spock has already met himself from another time, so what's to say he couldn't meet another figure that somehow came from a different timeline? Especially if that person is someone that the poor Vulcan has been desperate to see again.





	1. Stardate 2218.46

Stardate 2218.46

Amanda raced down the street as fast as she could. She was swinging her arms and legs wildly, and she could only hope that she wouldn’t be too late. She turned onto a dirt road, and ran until she was running on the springy grass of the large field. She sighed with relief when she saw the outline of a boy, just a few years taller than her, beginning to stand up. They had made a promise, to meet here, and run away together. But he said that the shuttle would be leaving at just after midnight, and he had to go no matter what. But she still had a choice.

She had desperately wanted to go, but she had been held up. Her older brother had just returned home at half past eleven, completely smashed. He had woken up their parents, and Amanda obviously couldn’t just walk out the front door with them hovering around. She had waited until all the excitement was finally over, and she had booked it out of there. Instead of a nice stroll, she was running like her life depended on it.

“Sarek!”

He turned, and when he saw her, his eyes lit up. He hurried to meet her and scoop her up into a hug. He pressed his forehead against hers. “I thought you were going to stay away. I thought…”

She shook her head. “No, I had to come, because I love you. I was afraid you were going to leave without me.”

The edges of his mouth twitched up, and that was the Vulcan equivalent of bursting with joy. She knew that the words would always be difficult for him to say. After all, Vulcans were taught their entire lives to suppress emotions. “I would never leave you behind, my t’hy’la.”

Amanda shivered at the sound of the sacred word. She knew she never wanted to spend a moment away from the man who was a stranger to her world. True, she was young, and that’s why her parents disapproved, but she could feel the strength of their love, and nobody could take that away.

Sarek peered at the heavy looking bag hanging from Amanda’s shoulders. “Let me carry that for you. We need to hurry to get to the shuttle station in time.”

Amanda hesitated for a moment before slipping the bag off. “Your parents… what will they think?”

Sarek shrugged as he took the extra weight. “I do not care what they think. If they insist on bothering us, I will tell them that it is logical for an ambassador to take a human wife.” 

Amanda blushed. “Wife?”

Sarek nodded. He traced his thumb over her chin. “You know, this will probably be forever. You are still so young, even by human terms. You should not tie yourself down to me. You will not be able to take another lover again…”

Amanda stood on the tips of her toes to interrupt the Vulcan with a kiss. “I know what I’m doing. I love you, and I want to spend the rest of forever with you. And don’t you dare spoil the moment by saying something logical. Now let’s go, we have a shuttle to catch.”

Sarek, who was, by his own approximation, about five times stronger than Amanda, scooped her up with ease, and began to run. She was slower, and they really were on a strict timetable.

They arrived at the shuttle docking station moments before it shut its doors, and they managed to slip in. Sarek pulled Amanda over to a seat by a window, and they both sat and buckled their safety belts after Sarek put their luggage in the proper storage area. 

He would never admit it to anyone, except maybe Amanda, but he was full of fear. He had been so afraid that Amanda had decided not to show up, that she had changed her mind, that she wanted a normal human life.

After about an hour of flying, Amanda was resting her head against Sarek’s shoulder, asleep. He looked at her peaceful face with a sudden feeling that he needed to protect her. She was his sun, his universe, and he wasn’t going to let anything happen to her. He pressed feather light Vulcan kisses against the open palm of her hand, and was content to stay like that forever.

Suddenly, an ugly blaring alarm tore through his peaceful little world. Amanda slowly sat up, blinking sleepily. “What-?” There was a horrid screeching, and the small shuttle was being torn in two like it was tissue paper. Those few inches between them made all the difference. Before he could react he heard Amanda’s scream. He bent over, reaching out for her, but she was beyond his grasp. He was on the bigger half of the wreckage, and the captain managed to steady the ship, and go down for an emergency landing. Sarek couldn’t think about anything other than his beloved being ripped from him, replaying over and over in his mind.

Amanda was tumbling around in her half of the shuttle. She was still subconsciously reaching out for Sarek, waiting for him to grab her arms and pull her to the safety of his warm embrace. But the shuttle was whipped around, and Amanda’s head was knocked against the metal wall she was strapped to. 

Her eyes slid shut as she fell into unconsciousness. She felt a strange sensation, like the whole world was whirling around her in some tie-dye pattern, and her head hurt. She was waiting for someone to wake her up, and tell her that it had all just been a bad dream. But unfortunately, even if there was someone in a position to oblige her, they would have to lie to do so. Because this was no bad dream.


	2. Stardate 2258.75

Stardate 2258.75

Kirk was sprawled in his captain’s chair in obvious boredom. They hadn’t received any missions lately, other than the run of the mill milk runs. This was an injustice, considering how James had just saved Earth a couple months ago. 

Suddenly, a red shirted ensign shouted out. “Captain, the ship is logging that someone has beamed themselves onboard, but not in the transporter room.”

Kirk got up and went over to the ensign. He peered over her shoulder. “Who? Is there video?”

The woman typed a few words, and selected the proper security footage. His mouth pressed into a tight line. There was someone lying face first on the floor in the hallway. He trotted back to the chair, and opened communication with Engineering. “Mr Scott, you haven’t been handing out your trans-warp equation, have you?”

“Of course not, why?”

Kirk sighed. “We are currently at warp speed, and someone just beamed onto the ship. Stay where you are.” He terminated the connection, and faced the other officers on the bridge. “Spock, Uhura, come with me. Someone call for Bones to meet us there. Everyone else, stay here. Mr Sulu, you have the conn.”

The three hurried out into the hallway. Spock and Uhura followed Kirk to the turbolift, which they took to Deck E. The exited cautiously, phasers drawn, set to stun. Kirk peered around the corner, and saw that the figure was still lying there, unmoving. He hurried over, and gestured for the other two to follow suite.

As they got closer, it was easier to make out individual details of the intruder. It was a girl, with long brown hair that was falling across her face and arms. She was wearing a pair of light jeans, a light gray sweater, and purple shoes that appeared to be made of canvas. 

Kirk knelt next to her, and brushed aside some of her wavy hair so he could press two fingers to her neck. He could feel a faint pulse. He beckoned Spock over, and they carefully turned her on her back. Her face was pale, and she had a nasty gash on her forehead. The officers could see now that she was just a kid, maybe a few years younger than Chekov.

Kirk glanced up at Spock. “How do you think she got here?”

Spock raised one eyebrow. “I do not have the facts that would be required to make that kind of inference.”

Bones arrived a couple minutes later. He shoved Kirk aside, and began pulling things out of his doctor’s bag. He scanned his tricorder across the girl, and began muttering under his breath. A few more medical officers arrived with a stretcher, and they gently lifted the girl on. She looked very young and small, and even with the thought she was a potential enemy, everyone did their best to be careful. 

They brought her down to the sickbay, Kirk and Spock following close behind. Lieutenant Uhura had already been instructed to head back to the bridge. Soon, Bones had the girl hooked to a biobed, and he was frowning slightly at the readings on the screen. He pulled out a couple of hyposprays, and stuck them all to the girl’s neck.

Kirk contacted Scottie to give him permission to try and figure out how the trespasser had boarded their ship. Bones looked at his captain. “You should probably get back to the bridge. I have no idea when she’ll wake up.”

Kirk shrugged. “I am not immediately needed, and I want to be here the second she’s up to question her.”

Spock nodded his silent agreement, and Bones threw his hands up. “Fine. Just try to stay out of my way. I do have other patients that need to be taken care of.” The captain and the first officer glanced at each other, and both sat in chairs next to the biobed. They began to discuss different theories about the intruder, and managed to keep the conversation going for about half an hour before the monitor beeped a few times to signal that the patient was awake.

Bones came in to check her vitals. Her heart monitor sped up quickly as she slowly opened her eyes and took in her surroundings. “Am I in heaven?”

Kirk stood next to her. “You are on board the U.S.S Enterprise. I am Captain Kirk. May I ask you are?”

She stared at the captain like he had just grown an extra head, before taking a steadying breath. “I’m… you can call me Amanda.” Kirk noticed Spock stiffen immediately, since Amanda had been the name of his mother. Her eyes roamed the room, and quickly latched onto the Vulcan. Her eyes were wide. “How…?” then she shook her head. 

Spock thought that maybe she was confused about his species. Most humans have never seen any Vulcans before. “I am Commander Spock, chief science officer. I am a Vulcan.”

Amanda gulped. “Yeah… I know… but…” She suddenly bolted up in the bed. “Was… was there someone else with me?”

Kirk looked at her cautiously. “Why?”

Amanda’s head darted around the room, like she thought that maybe the person she was looking for was hiding. She looked at the captain. “I… what happened?”

Kirk sort of shrugged. “Well, I was hoping you could tell me. You are the one who beamed onto my ship without any authorization.”

Bones glanced at his friend, but didn’t say anything. It wasn’t his place to tell him how to run his ship or question his… prisoner? Is that what the girl was? But Bones wanted to make sure she didn’t have a concussion, so he had to ask some questions of his own. “What’s the last thing you remember?”

Amanda shook her head. She still looked dazed. “We…” she cleared her throat. “...we were on a shuttle to the U.S.S Samyien, and everything was fine one moment, and the next moment everything was moving so fast, just blurs of color… and then I woke up here.” She looked up at the monitor connected to her biobed with a bit of confusion. “What’s that?”

Bones saw where she was looking. “It’s just a typical monitor to keep track of all your body signs.”

She laughed nervously. “No it’s not. I’ve been on lots of starships, and this isn’t what a sickbay looks like at all. And now that I think of it… I’ve never heard of the Enterprise. I know all the U.S.S ships, and that’s not one of them.” She frowned. “And I’ve never met any Captain Kirk. What’s going on?”

Kirk and Bones shot each other a look. Bones was scribbling down everything Amanda was saying. There was potentially some brain damage from hitting the floor. Spock raised one eyebrow. “James Kirk is a household name. He is known in most places, at least on Earth, since he saved it.”

Amanda also raised one eyebrow, and to Bones’s delight, she seemed to be able to out-eyebrow-raise the Vulcan. “Well then he must have never been to Washington, because I’ve never heard of him.”

Kirk shrugged. “Was your shuttle from Earth? Because I haven’t heard of any accidents lately.”

Amanda nodded. “From Seattle. We were going to the docking station to board the starship to Vulcan.”

Kirk hadn’t thought it would be possible, but Spock stiffened even more. Kirk glanced at his first officer. “I need you on the bridge.” Spock nodded, almost gratefully, before hurrying away. Kirk turned back to Amanda. “How do you not know?”

She furrowed her eyebrows. “What?”

“Vulcan is gone. It was completely destroyed two and a half months ago.”


	3. Stardate 2218.47

Stardate 2218.47

Sarek could feel himself slowly waking up. He had gone into a brief healing trance, a little Vulcan trick, when his half of the shuttle had crashed, but his body told him that it was time to wake up. He blinked a few times to take in his surroundings. He was in a terran hospital, since that was logically where the shuttle had crashed to.

He sat up, and assessed his injuries. Nothing major, thanks to the trance, just some scrapes and bruises, nothing that couldn’t be healed by a tissue regenerator. A nurse walked over to his biobed. She looked down at the PADD in her hands before looking at him. “Mr Sarek. You were very lucky, you know. You’ll definitely make a full recovery.” 

Sarek still felt ‘a little out of it’ as Amanda would say. He wanted to sigh, but that would be a very human action. And Sarek knew that as much as she berated him for it, Amanda secretly liked that he showed his emotions only for her.

Speaking of Amanda… Sarek looked around, but he was in a private room. He looked at the nurse. “How many survived the crash?”

The nurse shifted on her feet, looking a little uncomfortable. “You should rest for now, Mr Sarek, please.” The nurse sounded like she was pleading with him to not ask about the crash. 

Normally, he would have complied. But normally he wouldn’t be stuck in a hospital with no idea what Amanda’s condition was. He tried to make his voice sound softer, but he could hear the strict Vulcan tone it held. “Please inform me of the status of the other passengers.”

The nurse clutched the PADD she was holding to her chest. “Maybe I should let the doctor talk to you.” She scampered out of the room as fast as she could, and Sarek hoped that the doctor would show up soon. He needed to know that Amanda was alright. He tried to block the negative thoughts, but his mind was already calculating. 

Logically, from his injuries and where he had been seated on the shuttle, it was likely that his half of the vehicle had landed upright, which allowed him to come to conclusions about the amount of wind to factor in. Taking everything into consideration, it was very likely that Amanda’s half of the shuttle had landed within a mile of his, and-

He closed his eyes and forced himself not to think of the chance Amanda had of being alive in a percentage. He wished that there weren’t so many disturbances around, so that he would be able to meditate. That always helped with controlling emotions, especially fear, which he was feeling right now. He could feel it, somewhere inside him, that Amanda was gone, and he was afraid that his stupid intuition was going to turn out to be correct.

He had only known the human girl for eight terran months, but that had been enough time for them to be so in love. She made him laugh, which was a rare accomplishment on its own. She made him feel happy just by being around her, and she had no place in her heart for discrimination of any sort. She was very smart, and she often said she would like to be a teacher someday. One of her favorite subjects was Starfleet. 

She knew the name of every Earth starship, and all their captains. When she had shown interest, he had once taken her to a meeting with hundreds of Starfleet captains in attendance. She had told him that she felt like a child in a candy store. Sarek hadn’t been a interested in the meeting as he should have been, since he was too distracted by the way Amanda’s face lit up every time she saw something new.

Sarek looked up as the doctor entered the room, a human in his late forties. He glanced down at the PADD in his hands. “Ah, Mr Sarek, right?” The Vulcan nodded. “I wasn’t sure if you would want to see them or not, but there are a few Starfleet officers here to talk to you.”

“Let them in.”

The doctor nodded. He seemed to want to skirt the uncomfortable topic of the crash as much as his nurse did. A minute later, two officers entered the room. The woman stepped forward. “I’m Lieutenant Arsch. This is Lieutenant Miuer. We’re looking into the shuttle wreck. You were all lucky. So far there have been no casualties. However, we have yet to locate the other section of the shuttle, which contained three more passengers. Anything you can remember could help us.”

Sarek had felt a moment of relief at the thought that everyone survived, but now he was filled with fear again. They hadn’t even found Amanda yet. She could be terribly hurt, or worse… no. He didn’t even want to think about the possibility. “I recall that it seemed like a routine ride. Until the shuttle was destroyed before we even reached the edge of the atmosphere. I remember the other half of the shuttle being torn away, and that’s about it.”

The lieutenant nodded as though she hadn’t expected anything more. “Thank you, everything helps. We’ve already contacted the Elder Council on Vulcan to inform them of the situation. We didn’t want them to think that their ambassador not returning on time was an act of war or something.”

Sarek nodded. “How logical of you. Please inform me as soon as you locate the other three passengers.”

The lieutenant looked at him curiously. “Why?”

Sarek hesitated for a moment. He couldn’t just go around telling people about his relationship with Amanda, even if he wanted nothing more than to dance down the streets with her. “I was travelling with a friend.” It wasn’t really a lie. She was a friend. A very close friend that he planned on marrying eventually. 

The officer’s look immediately turned sympathetic. “Of course. We shall be on our way now. If you need anything…” Sarek nodded, and the two humans left.

The doctor returned, a hypospray in one hand. “This is a mild anesthesia. I’m going to administer it while I use the tissue regenerator, alright?” Sarek nodded, and allowed himself to be treated by the doctor.

He was released from the hospital three hours later, after promising to return if he felt any discomfort. Sarek knew that logically, he should contact his mother and let her know that he was fine, but he knew that as soon as he did, she would demand that he return to Vulcan. And Sarek had no intention of going anywhere, not until he found his t’hy’la.


	4. Stardate 2258.75

Stardate 2258.75

Amanda gulped, and her eyes widened. Bones rolled his eyes at his best friend’s lack of bedside manner. Kirk just stared at the girl, not quite sure what to think of this situation.   
Amanda shook her head. “No… that’s impossible. Something like that… it would be all over the news… he would have heard… no…”

Kirk was very curious about whether the girl was lying about where she had been headed or not. But her reaction seemed genuine, horrified and confused. Her anguish was interrupted by the sound of a communicator beeping. The captain pulled his out. “Kirk here.”

“Captain, this is Scottie. I want you to know that I cannae find any indication of someone beaming up here. Even if they did use a trans-warp equation, I should be able to find the electromagnetic residue. But there’s nothing, no sign anything happened here at all.”

Kirk peered over at the girl, who still looked like she was in the middle of a panic attack. He wouldn’t really be able to question her much like this. He spoke back into the device. “I’ll be right there. Wait for me.” He snapped the communicator shut, and glanced at Bones. “Is she going to be okay?”

Bones raised one eyebrow, though he knew it wasn’t nearly as good as Amanda’s. “Well, you did drop a bombshell of information. It may take her some time to process, since it appears she really had no idea that Vulcan is gone.”

Kirk grinned sheepishly. “Does it help if I apologize?” at Bones’s hard stare, he shrugged. “Well, tell me if she says or does anything, okay? And make sure that she doesn’t escape, since she could be working for any number of enemies.” Bones nodded with a bored expression, and watched as Kirk left.

He looked down at the girl. “Do you need some water or something?”

She shook her head. She knew that the loss of Vulcan would be more devastating to Sarek than she could even imagine. It was his home, and how could he not have known? She frowned a little. Wouldn’t that kind of big news have been all over Earth? Wouldn’t someone have at least told a freaking ambassador of Vulcan that their planet was destroyed? Nothing about this situation made sense.

The doctor held a small needle out, with an apologetic look. “I’m sorry, but I’m going to need a sample of your blood. We need to know that you aren’t bringing some kind of contagious disease aboard or something.”

Amanda blinked a few times as she processed those words. Then it hit her. She was somehow on a freaking starship, and she was the intruder. She was surrounded by strangers. She held out one arm shakily. It would be best to cooperate, since she wasn’t an enemy of the Federation or anything like that. The sooner they knew she was telling the truth, the sooner they would take her home.

She flinched a little as the doctor drew his sample, and then he used a tissue regenerator to fix the dot of red on her otherwise flawless arm. She sighed. “If you had enough time to get all this stuff set up,” she gestured to the monitors and PADDS with charts on them. “then I must have been here for a while. Why didn’t you take the blood while I was unconscious?”

Bones shrugged as he went over to a table with various sleek looking machines lining it. “That would be unethical. Technically I need your permission to take anything from your body, or permission from a higher up. I figured it’s better to just ask.”

“Oh.” Amanda frowned. “You didn’t ask, you just stated that you need to take some of my blood.”

Bones chuckled. “You know, I’ve never met someone who could out-Vulcan our commander, but I think you could give him a run for his money.”

Amanda pursed her lips together. She had known Sarek for much longer than she had known the first officer of the ship she never heard of. And he showed his emotions and tried his best not to be so literal, and she wanted to believe that he was the more accurate representation of Vulcans. Then she scolded herself for thinking that everyone from the same species would be the same. Humans were the prime example that each being was unique, despite sharing a planet.

She sighed. It really was strange that someone who was so fascinated with all of Starfleet had forgotten about such a new looking ship. And she wondered how she had gotten there in the first place. 

Amanda looked down at her hands. She remembered the first time Sarek had Vulcan kissed her, running his fingers all over her palms. She wished that there was a way to communicate with people who weren’t on the same ship, but that was impossible. She hoped that Sarek was okay.

Then she thought about her family. They weren’t bad people, they had never left her wanting for much in the way of possessions. But it had always been her brother who got all of their time and attention, leaving her on her own for much of her life. She hadn’t thought that she would miss them, not so soon after leaving. They probably haven’t even noticed she was gone yet, Amanda thought bitterly.

Amanda shook her head. This was no time to be sad. If things had gone as planned, she would be on Vulcan right now, where she would probably never see her family again anyways. She decided to stop thinking about the people she was missing. She looked around the sickbay, trying to take it all in. It looked so foreign, nothing like what she’d seen before. 

She saw a funny looking box with two holes in it. She carefully slid off the bed, and went over to it. Bones was still engrossed in whatever he was doing with her blood over at the table. She wanted to ask him what the machine was for, but she didn’t want to disturb him from his important work.

Amanda was mesmerized by the strange things adorning the ship that seemed more alien than human. She looked up as the Vulcan returned, even though he had only been gone for a few minutes. He glanced around the sickbay. “Is the captain still here?”

Amanda shook her head. “He went to go talk to someone named Scottie.”

He nodded. “I see.” 

He turned to go, but Bones stopped him. “Wait!” He jabbed a needle into the commander’s arm before he could do anything. He took some blood, and didn’t even bother to patch up the tiny inconvenience. 

Spock raised one eyebrow, not noticing Amanda doing the same thing simultaneously. “May I enquire the nature of your sudden need for my blood?”

Amanda looked at the green vial with interest. She knew that Vulcans have green blood, but she had never actually seen it before. It looked thicker than human blood, almost more like maple syrup than blood, and it was plain green. Bones shrugged. “Her blood, I thought something about it seemed familiar. I wanted to see…” he gasped as he slipped the vial into a slot next to Amanda’s.

He turned back to the two, his eyes wide. Spock narrowed his own eyes, just the tiniest bit. “What did you find?”

Bones breathed out. “I must have messed something up… but according to this… the DNA is the same in both samples.” He took a deep breath. “If this is accurate, then you two share the same DNA.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> haha that awkward moment when you're mom is younger than you


	5. Stardate 2218.48

Stardate 2218.48

Sarek stared at the officer in front of him. The man was a bloody idiot. Sarel took a deep breath, but silently so that it wouldn’t seem like he was getting frustrated. It had taken him a full day to get through all the red tape to gain access to the crash sites. And now he was standing here conversing with a slow worker who didn’t understand his simple request. Vulcans don’t get frustrated. He repeated himself. “This is the crash site of one half of the shuttle, I understand that. But where is the other half?”

A light seemed to go on in the man’s eyes, and Sarek couldn’t help thinking that it was hopeless to find Amanda with such incompetent fools in charge. The man nodded. “I can take you there, if you want.” He shrugged. “I mean, they already cleared out the… you know… bodies.”

Sarek’s eyes widened a fraction of a centimeter, a motion that no one besides Amanda would even notice. “Were there any survivors?”

Suddenly, the man recognized the barest hint of desperation in the Vulcan’s voice. He shook his head. “I really don’t know, I’m sorry. Let me take you there, okay?”

Sarek nodded, and got into the car with the other man. He sat silently in the car, his mind running through thousands of possible scenarios. He couldn’t help thinking like that when he was nervous, so he frightened himself further when the majority of those scenarios involved Amanda being… deceased. 

They finally arrived at the site, and it was 0.9 miles away from where he had crashed, just like he had originally suspected. There were various Starfleet and other police officers swarming the place, along with gaggles of reporters. Sarek shook his head in disgust (though Vulcans don’t feel disgust) at the way humans were so eager to make money from someone else’s tragedy.

He managed to push his way through, and he recognized one of the lieutenants who had talked to him in the hospital yesterday, Arsch. She saw Sarek, and her eyes widened. She went over to him. “Mr Sarek, I’m not sure that you should be here right now.”

He glanced over her head. “Of the three… how many are still alive?”

The lieutenant looked down at the ground like it was the most interesting thing in the world. “We recovered all three bodies. I’m so sorry.”

Sarek pushed past her, his heart racing faster than he would ever care to admit. Humans were such fragile things, and their lives could be lost in a matter of moments. He wanted to see for himself though, just to be sure. Maybe it was illogical, but there was some part of him that was hoping beyond hope that they were lying to him. That Amanda was really alright. It was just some joke, and she would jump out and they would laugh about it together.

He went to where the three stretchers were hovering, a blanket covered body on each one. The lieutenant followed. She looked sadly at the distressed Vulcan as she stepped in front of him. “You don’t have to do this…”

Sarek gestured for her to pull back the first blanket. He wasn’t sure her could do that himself. It was a male human in his late twenties. His skin was pale, other than the big red gash on his forehead. Sarek shook his head, and the blanket was lowered. The next one was pulled up. It was a female human, somewhere in her mid-fifties probably. She had wavy brown hair peeking out from underneath the silk scarf wrapped around her head. She looked very similar to what Sarek imagined an older Amanda would look like. One he would never see. The blanket was lowered at his head shake, and the last one was lifted. It was an female arcadian, with a large dog snout. 

He shook his head, and Arsch looked at him with confusion. “None of these are your friend?”

Sarek shook his head uncertainly. He looked back at the second body. He reached forward to lift one of her eyelids, even though several humans glared at him for that. Her eyes were a deep blue color, rare even among humans. He would recognize Amanda’s eyes anywhere. And what were the odds that this woman would look so much like Amanda, and be in the wreck when she was not?

Her injuries were not like the ones on the other two bodies. She looked like she wasn’t injured at all, like she should be ready to get up and go walking around any moment. One of her arms was splayed out, like she had been reaching for somebody. To his undisplayed surprise, along with the clear shock of everyone else, the woman sat up abruptly. Her arm shot out abruptly and snagged Sarek’s wrist.

She looked around wildly, then finally her eyes settled on Sarek. She spoke in a soft, unmistakable voice, and she looked like she was seeing a ghost. “Sarek?”

He froze, and just stood there as thousands of scenarios raced through his mind. The lieutenant looked confused and frightened, since she knew for a fact that all three bodies had been declared dead by several different medics.

She spoke again, her voice sounding a little stronger this time. “You look so young.” She turned and jumped off the stretcher. One of the doctors made to get her back on, but she stared him down, and he backed away with his arms raised. “Sarek.”

He raised one eyebrow. “Amanda?” She smiled, and he knew that smile, he could never forget it. And her eyes, he had never seen another human with those eyes. This was all highly illogical. What exactly had happened during the crash? “What happened? How did you…?”

She looked down at her dusty clothes with a small frown. “I remember standing there, right next to Spock. And then suddenly I wasn’t next to him anymore, I was falling. Then I woke up here. I don’t think we’re on Vulcan anymore, are we?”

Sarek shook his head slowly. He appraised her clothes, his mind whirling. She was definitely wearing traditional Vulcan clothing, and it looked very good, like it had been made for her. And his Amanda had never been to Vulcan before. What he was thinking was a big leap, using the given information. And it was highly improbable… but was it possible? Was this Amanda from the future?


	6. Stardate 2258.75

Stardate 2258.75

Amanda’s eyebrows shot way up, almost at the exact same time as Spock’s. The Vulcan managed to speak first. “That is highly unlikely, since humans and Vulcans share entirely different types of DNA, and she is a human and I am a Vulcan.”

Amanda snorted. “Thanks for pointing that out, Captain Obvious.”

Spock’s didn’t look amused (not that Vulcans ever looked really amused). “It is Commander Spock. James Kirk is the captain. I thought you understood this.”

He was standing very stiffly, like if he stood any straighter his spine would snap in half. Amanda rolled her eyes and muttered under her breath. “My Vulcan isn’t this weird.”

Spock, having better hearing than most humans, heard the comment. “Your Vulcan?”

Amanda shrugged, then frowned. “Hey, have you ever noticed that when you’re writing down species names, human is lowercase but Vulcan is uppercase? What’s the deal with that.”

Spock blinked, and thought for a moment that maybe that was just a human trait, to randomly mention whatever came to mind. But when he glanced at Bones, he saw that the doctor also looked lost with the abrupt change of subject.

Spock shook his head. “It’s probably because our planet is… was also called Vulcan, but humans are not from a planet called Human.” He would have sighed if he was human. How had she managed to get him off track so quickly. “That has nothing to do with the current situation.” He turned to Bones. “Run your tests again.”

He went over to the table, and started fidgeting with the machines, sort of pushing Bones away. He wasn’t really in the mood for jokes if that’s what the doctor was doing. It was impossible for him to have the same DNA as some human girl who he had never seen before in his life.

After a few minutes, and a couple more samples (despite Amanda’s indignified expletives at having more blood drawn), Spock was able to conclude that the doctor’s results had been accurate. He stepped back to stare at the girl. To his surprise, she was staring back. Most people were intimidated by Spock, but this girl was looking at him the same way he would look at other Vulcans, like there was no difference between them.

Amanda walked over to the table, and peered over the mens’ shoulders. She looked at the data, and Spock could tell that she was actually taking it in and understanding it. Most adults who studied medicine for a living could discern that stuff, but Amanda had no confusion or boredom written on her face as she stared at the screen.

She was looking at the pixels, while Spock was looking at her, studying her reaction. He watched as her eyes flicked down, and then her whole body went rigid. She pointed to the date in the corner with a shaky arm. “Is that… is that correct?”

Bones saw where she was looking, and nodded. “Yes, we always keep all chronometers completely accurate, so the time stamps in our computers are also correct, down to a tenth of a second.”

Amanda shook her head. “No way. This is all just some bad dream, right? I’m just going to wake up… this is… it’s crazy.”

Spock was almost curious. “Why? Is it not the time you expected? You were unconscious for about thirty minutes.”

Amanda backed up, her face paler than it had been a moment ago. “No… but something is wrong here? How did I get from a shuttle crash to here? It doesn’t make any sense. And why is that supposedly accurate time stamp off by forty years?”

Bones frowned, and furrowed his eyebrows. He glanced at the date on the computer to make sure that it still had the right time. “What? This isn’t even off by half a second, let alone forty years. Why would you think that?”

Amanda looked upset. “I don’t know how to explain. I think that your ship is caught in some kind of weird time loop or something. Or maybe everything on this ship is moving so fast, even time is sped up within here. I’m not really sure. We haven’t really learned much on the temporal anomalies topic.”

Spock raised an eyebrow. “I fail to see any temporal anomalies.”

Amanda shrugged. “Well then one of us must be wrong. I boarded that shuttle 2218.46, I’m sure of it.”

Bones grabbed his tricorder to scan over the girl some more. She must have hit her head harder than he thought. “That’s impossible.”

Spock shook his head. “Not impossible…” Bones gave him a confused look. Spock shrugged it off. “I need to go talk to someone.” He left immediately. The idea of time travel, though very improbable, was not impossible. After all, he had already met himself from over a hundred years in the future. Knowing that, there wasn’t really anything that would make a girl from forty years ago show up all of a sudden.

He went to his quarters, where he would have some privacy. He put in the number for a certain Vulcan ambassador. He waited, almost nervously, until the screen was filled with the face of his older self. He gave a curt nod of the head. “Ambassador.”

“Commander. Is there something I can assist you with?”

Spock hesitated for a moment before speaking. “In your timeline, did you ever encounter another time traveler?”

The ambassador shook his head with a slight frown. “No. Why are you inquiring about a time traveler?”

Spock was a millimeter away from sighing before he caught himself. Prime noticed with almost an amused look that he was able to hide before Spock spoke. “There is a girl on the Enterprise right now. She says she is from Stardate 2218,”

The ambassador could tell from the look on the younger Vulcan’s face that there was more. “What else?”

“Well, Dr McCoy says that we share the same DNA, and my own tests ended at the same conclusion.”

The older Spock leaned forward, fascinated. So many things on this timeline had been messed up because of Nero, and so many things were happening to his counterpart that he had never experienced. “Does this girl have a name or any other way to identify herself?”

Spock nodded. “She is a human named Amanda. I am not sure of her last name.”

Ambassador Spock took a gulp of air. “How old is she?”

“I don’t know. She is an adolescent.”

The older Spock frowned. “An adolescent… from 2218… named Amanda…” young Spock nodded. After what seemed like forever, the ambassador spoke. “We know of someone who was born at the turn of the century. 2203, if I recall correctly. And her name was Amanda.”

Spock’s head shot up. He spoke with a strange tilt to his words, like he wasn’t sure whether he wanted them to be true or not. “Our mother?”


	7. Stardate 2218.48

Stardate 2218.48

Sarek couldn’t help staring at Amanda. It was so strange, to see her, but it wasn’t really her. She wasn’t his Amanda. But he couldn’t just leave her at the crash site to be interrogated by a million different people, so he had offered to let her come with him. His room at the embassy was quite nice, by human standards, though Sarek personally found much of the room to have no function, and therefore was an illogical addition.

Amanda looked around as she nervously balled up the scarf in her hands for the hundredth time. Aside from the invitation, Sarek hadn’t spoken a word to Amanda. She felt a little hurt by that. While it was true that he wasn’t really her Sarek, in fact he was much younger than when she had first met the Vulcan, she felt sad that he already didn’t trust her.

She looked at Sarek closer, and she could see that he was heartbroken. Yes, Amanda was there, but he had still lost the Amanda he loved. It was all rather confusing. She couldn’t help the small laugh that slipped out of her mouth, and Sarek looked at her. “Sorry, it’s just, I want to say you’re acting childish, but that would actually make sense. You’re much younger than when I met you. I wonder why that is. How old is your Amanda?”

Sarek raised one eyebrow. “You are much older than when I met your counterpart. She is fifteen terran years old.”

Amanda glanced up, her eyes distracted as her brain started calculating. “That makes you… nineteen? in terran years. But how is that even possible? I never met my Sarek until after I was a teacher, in my late twenties. More than ten years from now. I wonder why you met so early in this timeline.”

Sarek wasn’t sure either, and that bothered him. Amanda always said that he knew everything, and though he disputed that statement whenever it came up, it secretly made him happy that Amanda thought so highly of him. Yet here he was now, with no idea what was going on. “If we never met at this age in your timeline, then you were never in the shuttle crash, correct?” Amanda nodded. “Then that means that the whole universe has been changed or something, for the timelines to be so messed up.” He stared at Amanda. “What happened in your timeline that led to you getting here?”

Amanda was glad that Sarek seemed to accept the idea so easily, but it also unnerved her a little. Shouldn’t he at least be a little more cautious? Her story was true in this case, but what if she had just been an imposter or something? She sighed, because she knew that it would be tough for any Vulcan to hear what had happened. Or what will happen, in this case. “Spock came and warned everyone on the elder council that we had to evacuate. Everything was crashing down around me, and he was saying that Vulcan was being destroyed. But before we could get beamed back onto his ship, the edge of the rock I was standing on crumbled, and the next thing I knew, I was waking up on that stretcher.”

Sarek looked shocked. “Vulcan gets… destroyed?”

Amanda shook her head. “I have no idea what happened. For all I know, it turns out to be a false alarm, and it was just an earthquake or something.”

Sarek made his face into a mask, to hide every emotion that was writhing beneath the surface, and Amanda felt a little hurt that he didn’t trust her with his emotions. “Spock… you mentioned that name before, when you first woke up. Who is he?”

Amanda wasn’t sure that she wanted to tell the entire truth in this situation. This Sarek already seemed very different from her own, and if the Amanda of this time was only fifteen, then this was still a time of very high racism everywhere, Earth and Vulcan. She wasn’t sure if this Sarek would accept the idea that he has a child who is half human. None of the other damn Vulcans seemed able to accept that.

She spoke carefully. “He is… someone that we both know. You do not always get along, but you both care about each other deeply.”

“I see.” Sarek decided to just forget about it. He couldn’t help the coils in his stomach when Amanda mentioned this ‘Spock’ guy, and he was able to identify that feeling as jealousy. He was jealous of someone else’s wife. He didn’t need to ask about future Sarek and Amanda’s relationship. The fact that Amanda lived on Vulcan was all the evidence he needed to conclude that they had bonded. Sarek shook his head. This was all so completely out of his area or expertise. “I wish to believe you, but I’m not sure that everything you’re saying seems logical. May I… see for myself?”

Amanda nodded. She knew that Sarek was talking about the Vulcan ability to meld minds. It was a little frightening, the idea that someone else was going to be in her head, where they could do anything they wanted to. But she had to trust Sarek, since he was probably her best chance at getting back where she belonged.

Sarek stepped forward, and without any warning, he pressed his fingers against her temples and closed his eyes. She had learned a lot from her Sarek over the years, and she knew how to glean as much from the Vulcan as he could from her.

Lots of information passed between the two minds, and Amanda prodded when she got to memory that was clearly cherished by the owner. With no regard to the obvious keep out signs around it, she opened up the memory, letting everything else sink into the background.  
,,,   
Sarek looked blankly at the large structure in front of them. It looked like a giant wheel with little globes hanging off of it at certain intervals. He glanced at his companion, and saw how pleased Amanda looked with herself. Sarek couldn’t help but ask the obvious. “Where are we?”

Amanda grinned. “This is what humans call a ferris wheel. It’s been here forever, even though the carnival it was with moved on a long time ago. Come on, let’s ride!”

Sarek allowed Amanda to drag him along, her hand wrapped around his wrist. He was comforted with the knowledge that he was so much stronger than the small girl, in case it turned out that she had plans to injure him after getting him alone so far away from the city so late at night.

She opened a door on the globe that was resting on a platform, and gestured for Sarek to get in first. He obliged, amused. She grabbed a small pad, and then slipped in next to Sarek. She pressed some buttons, and he soon found that they were circling around the wheel. He found the whole endeavour to be rather illogical, with no clear purpose.

Their globe slowed, and then stopped right at the top. Amanda leaned over him to point outside, and the globe tipped precariously. “Look,” she breathed out. Sarek looked in the direction she was pointing, and saw the city, with all it’s lights and glory in the distance. He had to admit, it was aesthetically pleasing. Amanda settled back into her seat, a shy look on her face. “You know… this is our third date.”

Sarek nodded. “I was indeed aware of the number of times we have participated in a ‘date’.”

“Well, there’s an old Earth tradition that on the third date, that’s when you can kiss.”

Sarek looked at Amanda, and saw that she was blushing. Her profile was illuminated by the distant lights, and for the first time, Sarek thought he understood the meaning of the word ‘beautiful’. He grabbed her hand, and ran his fingers over the palm. He knew that she understood the meaning of the intimate gesture.

Later, as they stood at the end of Amanda’s driveway, there was an awkward air between them. Amanda suddenly stood on the tips of her toes, and pressed her lips to his. Then she turned and ran towards the safety of her home. Sarek felt a silly grin on his face.  
,,,  
Sarek jerked away from Amanda. He didn’t like the wave of nostalgia.


	8. Stardate 2258.75

Stardate 2258.75

Spock looked at his older self in disbelief when he nodded. “You are trying to tell me that you believe it’s possible for our mother to somehow go from her time to mine?” He shook his head and ended the call before his counterpart had a chance to say anything else. Spock practically ran back to sickbay, and saw with relief that Amanda was still there.

She looked up at him with annoyance. “Is making sudden entrances and exits the only thing you’re good at?”

Spock grabbed her arm, and she squirmed uncomfortably in his superhuman grip. “What’s your full name?”

“Amanda Grayson.” Spock loosened his grasp on her, and she yanked her arm back. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

Spock was hesitant now. Part of him desperately wanted to believe that she was who his counterpart suspected her of being. But there would be no way to know for sure. His parents hadn’t met until they were older, at least for another decade from the looks of her. But he knew other things about his mother’s past, since she had often told him stories about her life on Earth. “May I… see for myself if you are telling the truth?”

Amanda looked puzzled. How could he see for himself? Then something clicked in the back of her mind. She remembered doing a project on Vulcans for school (she had thought it would be a fitting topic) and there had been something about them being touch telepaths. Maybe he wanted to read her mind? She held out her hand.

Now it was Spock’s turn to be confused. Was she trying to initiate the human tradition called a handshake? Now Amanda looked annoyed again. “Well? Are you going to read my mind or something?”

Spock’s eyes widened. He hadn’t really thought of that idea fully. It would be illogical to attempt reading her mind, since those kinds of thoughts could be altered. But the kind of thoughts that were seen through a mind meld could not be changed. “No… I need your permission to perform a mind meld.”

He could feel Bones’s eyes burning holes through him. The doctor knew that Spock would not request a mind meld unless he thought it was important. Amanda shook her head. “No.” Sarek had told her before that a mind meld was a very intimate gesture, and she didn’t want to share her entire being with this stranger. “Why are you asking?”

“What are your parents’ names?”

Amanda blinked at the sudden shift in subject. “Uh… oh Carrie and Michael. What are your parents’ names?” She asked the question with a small tilt in her voice, making it obvious that she was trying to lighten the atmosphere that Spock was weighing down. 

He responded anyway. “Amanda and Sarek.”

She gave him a half smile. “That’s a big coincidence, because…” then it dawned on her what he was implying. She breathed out in one long sigh. “Oh…”

Spock studied her, trying to gauge her reaction. She looked calmer than he would have expected, but that was typical of his mother. This had to be for real. There was no other explanation.

Bones didn’t understand, and even Spock felt a little lost. She looked like she understood, but Spock’s parents hadn’t met until they were much older than Amanda. And McCoy wasn’t sure why this mattered at all. Amanda wasn’t that uncommon of a name on Earth. 

Amanda’s next words were spoken gingerly, like she was testing them out as they were said. “Sarek and I… have… a…” she gulped. “kid?”

Bones’s eyes widened. “You actually know someone named Sarek… in your time?”

She nodded slowly. “Yeah, er, yes. We were on the shuttle together when…”

Spock nodded. “So that’s who you were hoping landed her with you?”

Amanda sighed. “Uh huh.” She looked up at Spock, and he recognized the look in her unique eyes, he had seen his mother wear that look almost every time she looked at him or his father. He still to this day didn’t know quite what that look meant. “Wow. I have… we have a kid.” She laughed. “This is weird, you’re like twice as old as me.”

Bones looked fascinated by the turn of events. That would explain the DNA match. But now he had even more questions. “How did you even get here, though? And how can we get you back home?”

Amanda shrugged. “Don’t ask me. I was unconscious.” She seemed to be accepting the situation better than most people would. “Damn… I can’t believe you’re my kid. This is weird.”

There was a noise of surprise from the doorway, and the three people turned to see the captain standing there. Kirk was staring at Spock, demanding an explanation with his eyes. Amanda rolled her eyes. “Did you figure out how I got here?”

Kirk shook his head. Bones decided to volunteer some information. “Oh, by the way, we’ve discovered that Amanda here is actually from forty years ago.”

She nodded seriously, then pointed to Spock. “And I’m his mom.”

Kirk looked at Spock for confirmation, and the Vulcan gave a stiff nod. “Indeed, what they said is true.”

Kirk just laughed. “Why do time traveling people always seem to revolve around you, Spock?”

Amanda looked at Spock curiously. “There’ve been other time travelers?”

He nodded. “Yes. One of them is my self from one hundred twenty nine years in the future.”

“Wow, Vulcans live a long time.” She chuckled. “I wonder if that means Sarek will outlive me.”

Spock stood straighter, looking like he had just been slapped. It wasn’t Amanda’s fault. She knew that Vulcan was gone now, but no one mentioned that Spock’s mother had gone down with the planet. The commander looked at his captain. “I have some reports to fill out…”

Kirk nodded. “Dismissed.” Spock hurried away.

Amanda glanced at the doctor uncertainly. “Is it something I said? I don’t understand…”

Bones sighed. “When Vulcan was destroyed… Dammit, I’m a doctor, this isn’t in my job description.” He turned to look at his best friend. “Why don’t you explain?”

“Well, the thing is, when Vulcan… you see…”

Amanda sighed and took pity on the two men. She was starting to see where this was going. “I died?” Kirk nodded slowly. Amanda took a big gulp of air. She had, on the rare occasions she actually thought about it, hoped to go down being a cool badass. But she was pretty sure that wasn’t the case. “Where did Mr Spock go? I’d like to talk to him.” 

The captain shook his head. “I’m not so sure that’s a good idea. He just needs time to cool off.”

Amanda nodded. “That’s cool, I get it. But um… is Sarek… did he…?”

Kirk could at least give a good answer to that one. “Ambassador Sarek is still alive and well. Do you want to meet him?”

Amanda wanted to, but she wasn’t sure that would be a good idea. What if he didn’t even recognize her? Or what if seeing her just made him sad? Or made her sad for that matter? No, she wanted to wait until she could see her Sarek again. 

Before she could say anything, there were red flashing lights all over the place, and a muffled blaring sound. From the look on Kirk’s face, that wasn’t a good sign.


	9. Stardate 2218.48

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ftl- future timeline  
> ptl- past timeline  
> Just to try and avoid some of the confusion between the multiple Amandas :)

Stardate 2218.48

Sarek took a deep breath. He hadn’t expected ftl Amanda to be so good at the whole mind meld thing. He hadn’t thought about that memory in a while, because he had been too busy making new memories everyday with ptl Amanda. He shook his head. “How did you do that?”

Amanda looked uncertain. She wasn’t sure how much Sarek would be able to handle. She mimicked his deep breath. She knew that it was best to tell the truth, usually, and this wasn’t as bad as having a half-Vulcan child. “You… my Sarek taught me. He was worried that being surrounded by Vulcans all day would be bad for my mental defences, so he taught me how to strengthen my mind.”

Sarek nodded stiffly. “I see.” He was a little annoyed that this Amanda had breached his own mental defences so easily. He made a mental note that if he ever taught ptl Amanda stuff like that, he wouldn’t show her what ftl Sarek had shown ftl Amanda. “Well, I saw the last thing you remember from your own time, and it doesn’t help at all. I still have no idea how you got here, or where my Amanda is. We need to figure this out as soon as possible.”

Amanda nodded. She was glad that she hadn’t died from falling off a cliff, even though she had been certain she would, but she would be even happier if she could get back to her own time and see her own family again. “I agree. But what can we do?”

Sarek shook his head. “You can stay here, where it’s safe. There would be a lot of people interested in discovering a time traveller, and they would dissect you and experiment on you and completely take you apart.”

Amanda raised an eyebrow. “Okay, I get it, I’ll stay here while you go investigate or whatever it is you plan to do.”

Sarek gestured to the bed. “Feel free to take a nap. The shower is in the bathroom if you want to freshen up. You look… I’ll be back soon.”

Amanda nodded, and Sarek hurried out of the room. He didn’t really want to spend more time with ftl Amanda if he didn’t have to. He left the embassy, and took a taxi back to the second shuttle crash site. It had been a couple hours by the time he got there, since it was further away from the city than the first crash site.

There were less reporters, only one or two left, and most of the people scurrying around were from some clean up crew, trying to get the ugly shuttle pieces into their large trucks. He looked around, and didn’t see anyone familiar. He wasn’t sure whether that was a good thing or not. When someone tried to stop him from passing the police tape, he flashed his embassy badge, and it wasn’t his fault if the officer assumed that it was a law enforcement badge.

Sarek went over to the main part of the shuttle half. He stepped inside the crushed metal, and looked around. There were four seats, one of them still had the seat belt buckled, so he assumed that that was the empty seat, since there had only been three passengers on this side. He found the seat that ptl Amanda had been sitting in next to him.

It looked like it had come from a different wreck altogether. The buckled was completely smashed, and there was a giant hole torn into the floor in front of it. He spotted a splotch of yellow on the seat, and when he bent down to get a closer look, he saw that it was a circle of gold that had melted into the seat. The other two passengers must have died from heat exhaustion if it was hot enough to melt solid gold.

But none of this explained what had happened to his Amanda. He heard some more voices outside, and he peered out the shuttle window. It was a little difficult to see through the web of cracks that covered the thick glass. But he saw that another group had officers had arrived, and were talking to the officers that were already there.

He had looked around enough, there wasn’t really anything else he could learn from the shuttle, so he slipped out the opening where this bit had been torn right off the rest of the shuttle. He walked away, back to his taxi that he had left waiting. He told the driver to bring him back to the embassy.

After he paid the driver and got out, he went back to his room. He went inside, and the lights were at a low illumination. He could still make out the lump on his bed though. He went into the smaller room branching off from the bedroom, and closed the door behind him. He turned on the screen in there, and called his mother. 

He felt kind of bad for not contacting her sooner, but he knew she would demand he return to Vulcan immediately. But Sarek was pretty good at guilting his mother into letting him get away with things he shouldn’t (though she always denied it because Vulcans don’t feel guilt). He waited a minute, and then her blank face appeared on the screen.

“Sarek, where are you? You were supposed to check in once you got onto your flight, and that should have been one point seven eight days ago.”

Sarek shook his head. “There were complications, mother. Our connecting shuttle crashed, and I was in the hospital.” 

That wasn’t a lie, he had been in the hospital. But if he wasn’t asked specifically, there was no need to elaborate on the fact that he hadn’t been in the hospital all day today, and half of yesterday. His mother’s eyebrows quirked up (it was just a Vulcan thing) and he could almost detect the concern in her eyes. “Are you alright?”

He nodded. “Yes, I went into a healing trance. I don’t think it would be wise for me to return to Vulcan just yet. The police have yet to identify the cause of the crash, and logically, there is a chance that another shuttle would also break. I think it would be best for me to remain here until the investigation is closed.”

She paused for a moment, but Sarek knew his mother would give in. It would be too risky to get onto another shuttle without knowing what the problem was with the first one, and it would be highly illogical. “I can see your point, Sarek. You shall return to Vulcan as soon as the cause of the crash is discovered.”

Sarek nodded again. “Yes mother.” She ended the call without another word, and Sarek turned off the blank screen. Hopefully he would have enough time to figure out what happened to the two Amandas before he had to go home. He frowned. Ftl Amanda was here, exactly where ptl Amanda had been. 

And from ftl Amanda’s memories, he could see her falling before she blacked out. Ptl Amanda’s last memory would have been falling as well since her half had no one to pilot it. Could that be enough of a connection to work with? 

Then Sarek’s eyes widened as he thought. If ftl Amanda was here, and ptl Amanda was no where to be found, then could that mean that they somehow swapped places? It was improbable, yes, but considering how there was an older version of his girlfriend sleeping in his bed right now, he knew it wasn’t impossible. This was all very interesting. He would have to think on it more later. Vulcans may require less sleep than humans normally, but he was exhausted.


	10. Stardate 2258.75

Stardate 2258.75

Kirk glanced at Bones. “Stay here with her.” Then he looked at Spock. “Come with me.” The two commanding officers raced out of sickbay. When they opened the doors, the alarm got louder.

Bones sighed. “It’s quieter in here so it won’t disturb my patients too badly.”

“Oh.” Amanda was standing there for all of five seconds before she felt restless. “Do you know what’s wrong?”

Bones shook his head. “It’s probably just something stupid, like our chief engineer had too much to drink and accidentally did something to set off the alarms. I’m sure it’s nothing.”

It was another minute before Amanda began to feel worried. “What if it’s something really bad though?”

Bones shrugged. “Don’t worry, this ship is safe.”

It was only another minute before Amanda realized that it wasn’t herself she was worried about. She was worried about Mr Spock. And it was weird. She felt the kind of concern she would feel if her brother was in danger. She couldn’t just stand around sickbay doing nothing, she wasn’t an invalid. And if she was Spock’s mother, then it was her job to protect him, right? That was a strange thought for the teenager.

But she knew a lot about starships, so if it was nothing major, then she could help. But Bones had been told to watch her, like she needed a babysitter or something, and he was obviously friends with the captain, so he wasn’t going to disobey the request. She sighed. She thought about how if she was a different person, she wouldn’t be in this situation, on a starship with a red alert that she shouldn’t even be on.

“Doctor? Can I… go?”

Bones looked at her with a frown. “Go where?”

She shrugged. “To wherever the alert is coming from.” She saw the look on McCoy’s face that said he was going to say no, so she spoke quickly. “I know a lot about starships so there could be something I could do to help. And also I’m kinda worried about Mr Spock.” The last part was just a string of mumbled words. It was weird to say she was worried about her kid who was twice as old as her.

Bones shook his head. “Sorry, but you’re staying here. You could have some kind of brain injury, and it wouldn’t work for you to be wandering around on this ship that you don’t know the layout of. Don’t worry, everything’s going to be fine.” 

Amanda noticed the worry lines covering Bones’s face, but she didn’t say anything. He knew more people on this ship than her, and he was worried for more than just one person. Then the whole room shook like something smashed into it, and everyone fell over. Amanda scrambled back up to her feet.

Bones had hit his head on the edge of the counter and was lying there unconscious. Amanda pressed her fingers against his neck, and to her relief he still had a pulse. The alarm was no longer muffled, it was a loud piercing sound, coming from the doorway that had a small metal table sticking out of one of the glass doors.

There wasn’t anything she could do here, she knew nothing about doctoring, and blood made her squeamish. She felt her stomach coiling up in fear. This was not a situation she had ever experienced before. But that didn’t mean she was just going to curl up and cower in some corner. The doors were jammed shut, so she crawled over the metal table and squirmed through the opening. The hallway was completely empty, and suddenly the alarm stopped. The silence pressed on the girl, and it was quite eerie.

She knew the basic design of this starship model, unless it had changed drastically in forty years. She wasn’t sure where to go, though, so she started to head to where the bridge should be. Amanda figured that that’s where all the people would be, since these ghost town hallways were unnerving. She found her way to a turbolift, but it wouldn’t open.

She turned around, and walked all over the deck, but she couldn’t find any damn stairs leading to the other floors. These people relied too heavily on their elevators. Amanda heard a shout of pain, and she ran towards the source of the sound.

Her eyes widened. There was a big orange person lying on a heap of humans, and they all seemed to be passed out. At least, she hoped they were passed out. The wall behind them was completely destroyed, like the orange thing had launched itself through the wall. The cry had come from the orange thing, she was sure of it, and she slowly got closer.

Suddenly, it shot up and grabbed in wrist in an iron hold. She screamed as it began to drag her down the trail of destruction it had left in its wake. This had to be one of the worst days ever. She continued screaming as the thing with superior strength tugged her along. If it wasn’t for that human pile back there, she would have suspected that all the humans on the ship had simply vanished.

There was a swoosh of air behind her, and a blur of blue, and then the thing holding her dropped like a sack of potatoes, pulling her down with it. She looked up as Mr Spock untangled the thing’s arm from hers, and then pulled her up. She gulped. “What is that thing?”

Spock stared at her with a hard look in his eyes. “I thought you were supposed to stay in sickbay. It was illogical of you to wander aimlessly when you didn’t know what the cause of the alarm was.”

Amanda nodded. She was shaking like she had just downed a dozen cups of coffee or something. “Sorry.” 

Spock shook his head. “Come on.” He began to walk at a brisk pace, and his long legs carried him quickly. Amanda was practically running to keep up. 

They got to the turbolift that Amanda had tried before, and she shook her head. “It doesn’t work, I already tried it.”

Spock pressed the little tan button on the control panel on the wall, and the doors slid open. He stepped inside, and Amanda followed with a growing blush. She cleared her throat. “They uh, they work differently on the ships I’m used to.”

“I see.” Spock looked at no where in particular. “Bridge.” And to Amanda’s amazement, the lift began moving with just that simple command.

She looked around the small space with new eyes, now that she realized everything was so much more different from her time than she had originally thought. Then she focused on Spock again. “What were those things?”

Spock lifted one eyebrow. “I am not sure, I’ve never encountered such a species before. I assumed that you would know what they are.”

Amanda shook her head. “No, why?”

“Because they came here and specifically asked for us to hand you over. No one else, just you.”


	11. Stardate 2218.49

Stardate 2218.49

Sarek woke up feeling refreshed, and for just a fraction of a second, he forgot about all the crazy things going on. He sat up and looked around his room in disdain. Even if Vulcans never really decorated their homes with personal items, his home on Vulcan felt much more comfortable than this place.

He smelled what seemed to be burnt. He wanted to frown. He knew it must be ftl Amanda, since Amanda was the only person he ever tolerated eating something that wasn’t completely nutritional from. She had spent the night at his embassy room several times (but nothing other than light kisses ever occurred) and Sarek had often had the pleasure of waking up to the smell of french toast. 

The first time it had happened, Sarek had told Amanda that she should have made something healthier for breakfast if she was going to cook. She claimed that it was the only thing she knew how to make, but Sarek had secretly suspected that she was hiding her true talent and she just wanted him to eat the toast.

He smiled in spite of himself. He got up and changed from his sleep shirt to his normal clothes, and went into the little kitchen area. Like he thought, ftl Amanda was standing in front of the stove. She looked up at him as he walked in. “What are you doing?”

She frowned. “It’s been so long since I’ve actually cooked… I haven’t even touched a frying pan since the invention of the replicators.”

Sarek lifted one of his eyebrows in interest. “Something from the future? What do they do?”

Amanda took a deep breath, and Sarek chose not to say anything about how watery her eyes were, probably from frustration and being separated from her family. “I don’t know the science behind them. All I know is that once they’re programmed to a certain setting, you just say what you want to eat, and the machine will give it to you.”

“Fascinating. And when does this handy invention make it’s debut?”

Amanda bit her lip. “Maybe twenty years ago? I’m not quite sure. I know history well enough, like before the time barrier was broken history, but I don’t know much about my own time.”

Sarek nodded. “I see. And what are you attempting to make?”

Amanda blushed in embarrassment. “I was trying to make pancakes. They’re… my Sarek’s favorite. Are they your favorite too?”

Sarek didn’t have the heart to disagree with the hopeful looking older woman. Being a Vulcan, he couldn’t exactly lie, but he was pretty good at evading the heck out of topics he didn’t want to touch. “We need to figure out how to get you back to your proper time.”

She nodded. “Yeah, yeah. I know. Believe me, you can’t even imagine how badly I want to go home and see…” She trailed off at Sarek’s stiff look. It took her a moment to remember that her younger self and the younger Sarek were already together. And it was obvious that ptl Amanda was not around, so Sarek must be missing his loved one as much as Amanda was missing hers. “Oh god, I’m sorry. I know that you must miss your Amanda as much as I miss my Sarek.”

He didn’t say anything. There wasn’t really any response he could give to that statement that wouldn’t sound emotional and un-Vulcan. Instead, he decided to keep going with his evasive method. “You should probably change from your sleep clothes to normal clothes.”

Amanda looked embarrassed again. “I didn’t exactly fall through time with a packed suitcase. What I’m wearing now I borrowed from you, and the only clothes I was wearing aren’t in very good condition any more.”

Sarek nodded. “Very well. I shall find a willing clothing donor, and then you can change. Once you’re in proper attire, we should go shopping to get you some clothes of your own. I don’t plan on you staying here for long, but I believe as you humans would say, better safe than sorry.” He peered over at the charred circles that were oozing pale yellow battar. “And while I search for something for you to wear, you should attempt to clean up that mess.”

She nodded, and Sarek went back to his study. Amanda watched him go, then glanced down at the goopy burned up mess. She turned off the stove, and brought the pan over to the sink, since there were no self cleaning dishes in this time. She didn’t remember her childhood being so much less reliant on technology than her adulthood.

She began scrubbing at the dirty dish, and didn’t let up until it was shining the way it did before she picked it up. Sarek came up behind her, and held out a hanger with a typical starfleet regulation vacation clothes. She accepted the outfit gratefully, and went back into the bedroom to change.

Once Amanda had on the new outfit, she slipped on the sandals she had been wearing yesterday, and looked sadly at the silk scarf. It had been a gift from an old friend, one who was… wait. She could just seek out her friend now. She looked to the side as she thought. Yes, she had definitely known her friend for a while by now, at least in her own timeline. She wasn’t sure how ptl Amanda’s relationship with Sarek might have affected her relationship with Dillon. 

She looked at Sarek. “I know the perfect place to shop, if this time is anything like the one I remember. It should be near my house. Are we near there?”

Sarek shook his head. “I’m not sure if it would be logical for you to go so close to your childhood home. What if you bump into your parents or friends or other family? They wouldn’t be able to comprehend any of this, and who knows what the repercussions would be in terms of the timelines.”

Amanda nodded, though she felt it was a little unfair. If she wasn’t as old as she was, she would have pouted. That thought was a little uncomfortable. Why was she acting so childish here? She hadn’t been like her younger self for many years, not since she had become a teacher. Was it the effects of living in the time of her younger self?

Then she shrugged. “Alright, then I guess we should just go shopping wherever you were planning.”

Sarek looked relieved that she wasn’t going to argue with him. “Then let us be off.”


	12. Stardate 2258.75

Stardate 2258.75

Amanda gulped. “Oh.” She couldn’t really think of anything else to say, and Spock didn’t look like he expected her to have a reply anyways. Why would those weird orange aliens be asking for her? Just this morning, she was living a very normal life, even if she did have a Vulcan for a boyfriend. But now everything was way out of whack.

The lift stopped, and Spock stepped out, not even checking to see if Amanda was still following him. She hurried to keep up as they stepped onto the bridge. Like Amanda had expected, it seemed like most of the crew was huddled there. The captain pushed his way through the thick crowd of crew members until he was standing in front of Spock and Amanda.

“Did you ask why those orange things are attacking us and looking for her?” When Spock just glanced down at the girl, Kirk looked down as well. He addressed her. “Do you know what these things are?”

Amanda shook her head. “No. And I don’t know why they would want me, either.”

Spock nodded. “She seems to be telling the truth.”

Kirk narrowed his eyes. He knew Spock better than most people, and the poor guy had just lost his mother a couple months ago. It would make sense for him to vouch for this girl, because he would want to keep his mom safe, even if she was only half his age. But he knew that Vulcans couldn’t lie, and decided to trust Spock. “Alright. Then we need to figure out how many of them there are, and where their ship is so we can communicate, or attack if we need to.”

Amanda looked around at all the people rushing all over the place. They all looked like they knew exactly what they were doing, while Amanda was useless. She had already decided that she wasn’t going to let her fear control her. “Use me as bait.”

Kirk frowned. “What?”

“You heard me. If those things want me so badly, then let them get to me on your terms. Set a trap for them or something.”

Spock shook his head. “That is a very illogical plan. It does not account for any of the variables of this situation.”

Amanda took a deep breath, and crossed her arms over her chest. She had already made up her mind that she wasn’t going to be completely useless. Everyone was running around and shouting at each other, and it was very loud. “Can you get your people to be quiet?”

Kirk turned to shout across the room to a young woman sitting at one of the control panels. She pressed a few buttons, and a shrill ring pierced everyone’s ears. Everyone shut up, and Amanda didn’t like the sound of complete silence either. But it was better than the ear-splitting commotion that had filled the room. 

She nodded gratefully. “You can use me as bait. Set up a trap that can be remotely controlled, so you and all your people can stay safe in here. It’s a good plan, you wouldn’t be risking anything.”

Spock frowned slightly. “What about you? These aliens may not wish to harm you, but they certainly wish to take you away to an unknown location. There are many things that they could do to you, all of them equally bad.”

Amanda’s eyes widened. “Are you worried about me?” Spock pursed his lips together, and Amanda smiled. “I was worried about you too.” Then she shook her head. “We can talk about that stuff later. It’s not a risk losing me because I have no value to this ship, and besides… if they only take me, and then leave the rest of you alone, it would be worth it. You didn’t choose to let me onto your ship and now all I’ve brought with me is trouble.”

Kirk could see the brief flash of emotion behind Spock’s eyes. He knew the Vulcan must be seeing something in this girl that he had seen in his mother before. And he knew it would be devastating to his first officer to lose his mother again. “I’m afraid we can’t do that. According to Starfleet regulations, no bartering with hostile aliens may occur if it involves Federation life. And you’re a human from Earth, so you’re part of the Federation.”

Amanda shook her head. “I’m not part of anything in this time. I don’t belong here, so it doesn’t matter what I do. For all I know this is just some nightmare that I’m having, and I’ll wake up any minute. But even if it’s not, you should know that the needs of the many outway the needs of the few. Losing one worthless girl to save an entire ship of valuable people… it’s worth the risk.”

She turned to look pleadingly at Spock, and saw his stunned expression. It was strange for him. Even if he had already accepted that this girl was his mother logically, it still seemed surprising to hear her talk like the woman he had known, and her little mannerisms were also the same. He knew that logically, they should go with her plan, even if it was simpler than the mind of a potato. But there was a part of him that had to argue. He couldn’t lose her again. Not when this time, there was a chance to stop that from happening.

But he didn’t get a chance to explain that to Amanda and Kirk, who were both waiting for him to pick who he was siding with. The screen went on, and one of those ugly orange things had it’s face practically pressing against it. His beady black eyes swiveled around until they landed on Amanda. He nodded at her. He spoke in a low grumble. “That is the girl we are looking for. If you just hand her over, then we will leave you alone.”

Amanda cleared her throat and ignored the butterflies in her stomach. “What do you want with me?”

The thing looked vaguely surprised for a moment. “The girl can talk?” He took a couple steps back and turned around, and everyone on the bridge could see another orange thing standing there. Neither said anything that the human crew could hear, but they had obviously just communicated. He looked at Amanda again. “We are the Epoch Brokers. You would call us travelling merchants. But we don’t trade in goods per se; we trade in something called cruxes.” He pointed to Amanda. “This girl is a crux, and a very rare one at that. We want her.”

Kirk put his hands on his hips. He wasn’t just going to give away Spock’s mom, and even if she was some random girl, he wouldn’t hand her over to these strangers. “Where are you from? How did you know that this girl is aboard this ship?”

The Epoch Broker sighed. “We are from nowhere in particular. We are fated to wander through time for the rest of eternity. We knew where and when to find her because we have dozens of machines used to track cruxes. Usually it’s more difficult though, because the time energies are so faint. But this one is strong, and we want it.”

Kirk pretended that he didn’t care, but he was kind of curious. “Are all of these… cruxes… people?”

The thing shook its head. “No. In fact, most of them are tiny baubles, no bigger than a marble or a bead. To find one so large and strong… we want it.”

The captain shook his head stubbornly. “Sorry, but you can’t have her.”

The Broker snarled. “If you won’t hand her over, then we will storm your ship, slaughter all your people, take the crux, and fire several missiles at your ship. You have one minute.”


	13. Stardate 2218.49

Stardate 2218.49

Amanda was carrying two small shopping bags back into Sarek’s room at the embassy. She had almost gone full shopping spree mode, something she hadn’t done since college. But in the end, she had used enough restraint to buy two outfits, both very plain. She put her bags down on the couch, and turned to Sarek. “So I know that Vulcans don’t need as much sleep as humans, but I can’t keep using your bed, it’s not fair to you. How about you let me sleep on the couch?”

Sarek shrugged, and Amanda felt a flash of disappointment. She had been hoping that he would at least argue a little bit, or act gentlemanly and tell her to keep using the bed. “If that’s what you want.”

She sighed. “What are we going to do to get me back home?”

Sarek shrugged again. “I am not entirely sure. I looked around the site of the shuttle crash, and I couldn’t find anything that indicated how you got here in the first place. We should go back and…” he trailed off when he saw Amanda’s sudden blank expression.

She blinked a few times, and looked at Sarek with confusion. “You said that me and my younger self are from different timelines or something, right? Maybe even parallel universes.”

Sarek nodded cautiously. “That is the logical conclusion that I’ve come to based on the facts and circumstances surrounding your situation.”

Amanda frowned. “Then why…? I just had a memory, or a flashback or something. But I know that I’ve never been in the situation that I’m remembering. How is that possible?”

Sarek held up his hands, and Amanda nodded her consent. He pressed his hands against the side of her head. He saw flashes of memories going by, and it was confusing. There were suddenly a lot of dark patches that hadn’t been there before, where something was being covered up or skipped. He pulled back with a frown. “If you were running on a different timeline than your counterpart, that would make it much easier to find a way to send you back. If you were from an alternate dimension, it would still be easier to figure out. But I’m not sure what to do with this information. What exactly did you see in this memory?”

Amanda frowned. “Not much. I was in a crowded room, and there was a funny orange thing on the screen.” She looked puzzled. “Have you ever heard of an Epoch Broker?”

Sarek shook his head. “Well, maybe you are just imagining things.”

“No, it was definitely real. It had to be. I was young, only a teenager still. How did I get that memory?”

Sarek stroked his chin absent mindedly while he thought. “Maybe you really are somehow still on the same timeline as my Amanda. If she experiences something new, gets a new memory, you would have it too, by default. But that wouldn’t explain how there are so many differences between you and her.”

Amanda groaned in frustration. “Just when you think you have even the littlest thing figured out, more is added to the equation to complicate it further. But if I’m really having memories from my past, why is it just that one? And why didn’t I start getting new memories as soon as I landed here?”

Sarek wanted to sigh. It had already been three days since the crash. Three days since he had seen his Amanda. And everything was making less and less sense as time passed. Too bad it wasn’t him who had been sent through time. He assumed that his older self would be able to handle this easier than he was.

The Vulcan shook his head. “We need more information. I’ll try to find something on these Epoch Brokers…”

Amanda saw the curious look on his face. “What?”

“Well, it can’t be a coincidence that this new memory of yours involves some unheard of species that have a name that involves the start of a new time in the Earth language, English, can it?”

Amanda tilted her head to the side. “I don’t know. But how are you going to get information on these things?”

Sarek smiled tightly. “Being an ambassador does have its perks. You should stay here. It wouldn’t be good for you to go around talking to the people that I know. They might recognize you.”

Amanda raised her eyebrows. “Have you brought my younger self around here that often?”

Sarek didn’t bat an eye. “She practically lived here with me.” Then he turned and left the room, not wanting to see ftl Amanda’s reaction. He hurried down to the second floor of the embassy building, where there was a small library. He knew it wouldn’t have the information he needed, but he knew someone there who might be able to help him. 

He entered the library, and quickly spotted the librarian, Vincent. He went over to the man. “Vincent?”

The human turned around, and grinned when he saw the Vulcan. “I was worried about you. I saw your shuttle crash on the news. What can I do for you?”

Sarek knew that the older man could be trusted, and he lowered his voice so the other patrons wouldn’t overhear. It was illogical to be paranoid in most situations, but the damage to the shuttle couldn’t have just been some freak accident. “I was wondering if you know anything about a race called Epoch Brokers.”

Sarek caught the slight frown before Vincent shook his head. “Sorry, never heard of them. Why?”

Sarek frowned. He knew that some humans were very good at hiding their emotions, and even lying straight through their teeth. But he had never known the librarian to do such things, so he knew there had to be a good reason for Vincent to keep something from him. “Well, I was curious.” He knew that as a Vulcan, he couldn’t lie, so he would just have to word his next lines carefully. “After the wreck, I went to talk to Amanda. She mentioned Epoch Brokers, and I was wondering if they could have been involved in the crash.”

Vincent looked guilty. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t even thinking… Amanda was one of the three passengers on the other side, right? I’m so sorry…”

Sarek knew that Amanda had been declared officially dead even though no body was recovered, since there was no way for anyone to survive that wreck. He nodded, brushing aside the comments. He had no way of knowing for sure that Amanda was alive, but he preferred to think that she was. “I assumed that if anyone would know of such people, it would be you.”

Vincent frowned. “You flatter me, but I’ve never heard of anything like that. Maybe… she was just delirious.”

Sarek nodded. “Perhaps. I should probably be on my way.”

Vincent nodded in agreement. “Of course.” He watched the Vulcan leave the room, a heavy feeling in his stomach. There was no way that Amanda could have mentioned Epoch Brokers, but Vulcans also couldn’t lie. He was going to get to the bottom of this. Even for the sake of his hurting friend, he couldn’t reveal the secret he had sworn to protect all those years ago.


	14. Stardate 2258.75

Stardate 2258.75

Amanda’s eyes widened, and they were obviously filled with fear. She gulped. Spock knew that she was going to tell them to take the strange aliens up on their offer. She had just said that her life in exchange for everyone else’s was fair.

She tittered nervously, and mumbled under her breath, and even Spock couldn’t make out the inaudible words. “Is it too late to change my mind?” Then she cleared her throat, and spoke up. “Well, I don’t think that this situation can be made any clearer, Captain. You know that the right thing to do-”

Kirk growled. “I am so tired of losing people who were on my ship, under my protection and command. There is no way I am going to add the blood of a kid to that already huge list.”

Amanda pouted. “I’m not a kid, and that’s not the point. You have less than a minute to do something, and you literally only have one option that won’t end in everyone’s destruction, according to that guy anyways.”

Spock knew that he wasn’t the only one who noticed how much Amanda was trembling. And he also knew that she was correct when she said the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. He would have to file that away to quote some other time. Right now, he needed to figure out a way to convince his Captain and Amanda that she was wrong, and that they would find another way. In less than the thirty seconds they had left. 

And even Spock, brilliant Vulcan genius that he was, could not formulate any sort of plan in that amount of time. Maybe he could just talk her out of it? “Amanda-”

The screen flickered on. Wow. One minute passed by a lot faster in real life. In the movies, one minute always meant more like five minutes. The Epoch Broker was back. “Well?”

And Kirk wanted to say that there was no deal, that they would go down fighting, and he opened his mouth to speak. He glanced at Amanda and saw her sad face. As scared as she was, she still wanted to sacrifice herself for all these people that she didn’t even know. Now that was true bravery. He shook his head in defeat. Who was he to condemn his entire crew, his entire family, to die, just because he didn’t want the guilt of one more innocent person on his hands. He sighed with frustration, and the thing had the audacity to grin at him.

“Good, I’m glad to see you’ve come to your senses. Lower your shields, and we’ll grab her and be out of your way before you know it.”

Spock couldn’t watch. He prided himself so much for his ability to control his feelings, just like any other Vulcan, but right now, he felt like curling up in a ball and crying until he couldn’t cry anymore. Some strange, cruel, twist of fate had given him his mother back, only to snatch her away again almost immediately.

He went to the nearest room, and dialed Ambassador Spock. He waited impatiently as the screen lit up, and his elder counterpart appeared on the screen with a curious look. “You terminated our previous conversation before I felt it was complete. Are you going to do so again?”

Spock took a deep breath, and shook his head. “No. I need your help. These creatures calling themselves Epoch Brokers are taking away M… Amanda. They said that she is something called a crux, a rare and valuable one, and they wanted her very badly. They threatened to destroy this entire ship. What should I do?”

Spock Prime frowned. He was much older than the Spock who was looking up at him pleadingly, but they had both lost their mother on the same day, and the pain felt just as fresh in both of them. “Well, logically, what do you believe that you should do?”

Spock frowned as well. “I’m not sure. It’s very hard for me to think using logic when it comes to Amanda. Strange, seeing as I’ve only known her for less than a day.” He finally sighed, since he was the only one in his company right now. “It’s a little unnerving how similar she is to Mother, the way I remember her.”

Prime smiled a little sadly. “I almost feel jealous of you, but that is not right. In my time, she died much later than in yours, so I’ve already had her for much longer than you.” He shook his head. “It doesn’t help anybody to reminisce of times that are so far behind us. I’m afraid that I cannot help you in this situation, because I never lived through it myself. What does Amanda wish to do?”

Spock sighed again. “She’s willing to offer herself up in exchange for the Enterprise getting away unharmed. She will probably be gone by the time I return to the bridge. But I can’t help thinking that letting her go, when I was given this second chance, it just doesn’t feel right.”

Prime nodded thoughtfully. “I’ve learned much over the years, and one thing that I know is that instinct can be very valuable. If you feel that it is the wrong decision, then it’s quite possible that it is. You should go and try to get her back. I will be waiting. We shall figure out the rest later.”

Spock nodded, and hurried back to the bridge. He took a deep breath, and rearranged his face back into his blank mask. He entered, and was met with a bizarre sight. The ugly orange alien was sitting in one of the navigators’ seats, turned all the way around to face the captain’s seat. Kirk was draped over his own chair like he was bored almost, and Amanda was standing in the back, trying to blend in with the shadows. The other crew members were all missing from their stations.

Kirk glanced over at the doorway, where Spock was standing speechless. The Broker saw him too, and gestured for him to join them. Spock walked forward uncertainly. He now regretted leaving rather than watching the situation play out. He gave Kirk a questioning stare, and the captain just shrugged it off. 

The Vulcan wanted to look at Amanda, and make sure that she was alright, but the human seemed determined to look anywhere but at her. Spock was pretty sure it was to prevent the alien from catching sight of her. Now he was very curious about what had gone down. Kirk held up a bottle of whiskey, and shoved it into Spock’s hands. 

The Broker looked eagerly at Spock, making him feel uncomfortable. There was a soft tapping noise, and then a quick ‘oh’ followed by a thump. The alien glanced over, and Spock followed suite. Amanda had been quietly making her way to the door, and it seemed like she accidentally bumped into a desk or something.

The orange thing broke out a huge unsettling smile that made Spock stand even stiffer than before. When he spoke, his words were a little slurred. “It looks like we found her again. Good work Captain.”

Then he tumbled over, face first, and slammed into the floor. Kirk shrugged. “Apparently these Epoch Broker guys are complete lightweights. I told him that we lost Amanda, and that he should have a drink with me while we waited for the crew to search, and that’s how I got them all out. I told Amanda that I would distract him so that she could leave too. One drink, and this guy is acting like he’s taken a thousand shots already.”

Amanda skipped over to Spock. “Are you okay? You got out of here awfully fast.”

Spock shrugged. He was glad that the girl was okay, and he knew that she didn’t have many people in her life who actually cared. “I’m glad that you’re alright.”

She smiled, and pulled Spock into a hug. He shot his friend the death glare when the Captain could hardly contain his chuckles.


	15. Stardate 2218.49

Stardate 2218.49

Amanda paced nervously through the large suite. What if Sarek couldn’t find any information on these Epoch Broker things, and she really had just imagined them? After all, it wouldn’t make sense for her entire life to be so different from her younger counterparts if they were somehow sharing a timeline. Something else had to have gotten her that memory from her teenage self.

She flopped down on the couch next to her shopping bags. She was bored. Sarek was the type to have book neatly stacked away on a shelf somewhere, but she hadn’t seen any bookshelves yet, so either he didn’t feel that comfortable in the embassy, or he was that different from her own Sarek.

The woman felt useless, like she was just some burden to this teen Vulcan, and that she wasn’t helping in any way to discover how to get her back to where she belonged. Amanda stood up again and resumed her pacing. After what seemed like forever, Sarek returned to the suite. He shook his head slightly. “I was not able to procure any information on these Epoch Brokers. I know that you don’t want to believe it, but it is possible that you just dreamed them up.”

Amanda sighed. “Yeah, I guess it’s possible. But wouldn’t it be easier to find out how I got here if these memories are real? I mean-”

She was cut off by the metallic ringing of the speaker by the door. Sarek waved his hand to signal for her to stay silent. He went over and answered the call. “Ambassador Sarek. Who is this?”

There was a calm voice in reply, though the Vulcan could detect the undertone of worry and fear. “Ambassador. Some unidentified non-citizens are requesting that they be let up to your room. We told them that you were unavailable unless by appointment, and they pulled out some major weaponry, things we’ve never even seen before. They overpowered all the guards who were on duty. Back ups have been called, but the intruders are already heading up to your floor. Please find some way to remove yourself from the building. There is a large number of people who wish to harm ambassadors, and everybody wants you kept safe. You can take the-” There was a shout, and the sound of whooshing air, then silence for a moment.

A new voice spoke. “This is Capitain Marr’oio. I’m telling you now that we do not wish to cause trouble or harm to anyone in this time. We simply wish to obtain that crux that you currently have in your possession.”

Amanda couldn’t help asking a question of the stranger on the other end of the speaker. “Are you an Epoch Broker?”

There was a moment of surprised silence before Sarek and Amanda could make out the faint voices speaking a little farther away from the speaker. “The crux can speak? And identify us? Such intelligence, it’s very fitting that we would get such a fascinating crux. Capitain Puruori will be so jealous. He said that he was going after a very powerful crux, but his can’t be as strong as this one. A full sized human! It’s amazing!” Then the voice was louder as the foreign captain spoke to Sarek again. “What is the price to purchase your crux?”

Sarek put the speaker on mute for a moment, and turned to Amanda. “It seems that it is you they want.”

Amanda was pretty sure that Sarek wouldn’t give her up so easily, not when she was a counterpart of the girl he loved so much. But still, she wouldn’t put it past this version of Sarek to find it logical to hand her over to someone else. “Yes… it would appear so.”

Sarek frowned. “It also seems that you weren’t imagining whatever you saw in your mind.” He cleared his throat, and Amanda took that as the closest she was going to get for an apology. “The being speaking with us is most likely a distraction while others come up the stairs and the lifts and cut off our escape routes. They will close in on us, and they will have the upper hand.”

Amanda’s eyes widened. She wasn’t exactly used to dealing with situations like this. Yes, she had suffered through all those racist Vulcan assholes, but she was a teacher for god’s sake! A mother, and a wife, not a strategist or negotiator or anything else that would help get them out of this mess. Though she did know that she'd get through this situation, no matter what happened. “So what are we going to do?”

Sarek frowned. He unmuted the speaker, and spoke in his typical emotionless voice. “How much are you willing to give me for her?” Amanda’s eyes widened. She sincerely hoped that this was part of the plan, and not for real.

The Broker laughed nervously. “Are you serious? You’re actually going to give up something so valuable so easily? Err… forget I said that. What I meant was: Name your price.”

Sarek shrugged, even though the alien obviously couldn’t see. “Alright then. You can have your ‘crux’, but only if you agree to come up here and get her yourself, face to face.”

The captain sucked in some air. “Geez, I really hope that Puruori is having a hard time getting his. I can’t believe he brushed this mission off to me as ‘the tough one’. Well I’ll show him. Sure thing, Vulcan. I shall be with you momentarily.”

Sarek worded his satisfaction, then terminated the call. He motioned for Amanda to follow him as he went towards the balcony. He had found it to be a rather illogical addition to the room, but now he was grateful for it. She followed without a word. Sarek swung his legs over the railing and grabbed onto the fire escape ladder.

Amanda grimaced. In her time, there was nothing this primitive to be found anywhere on Earth or Vulcan. It was so dangerous, to have a method of escape that requires the escapees own strength, so high above the ground. And it was also extremely slow. She watched in shock as Sarek let go as soon as he was comfortably positioned on the ladder. She couldn’t tear her eyes away. Moments later, after passing a few floors, his arms snapped out and snatched the closest rung. He looked up at Amanda. He had to raise his voice a little to be heard over the distance between them. “Are you coming?”

Her voice was shrill. “Are you kidding? No human would be able to do that without breaking a couple of bones in their arms and hands. And what if I can’t grab on in time. This is a terrible idea. Why did you need to barter with that freak just to go and throw our lives away?”

Sarek shrugged. “If you’re scared, that is illogical. Your younger counterpart and I have done this before.”

Amanda looked horrified. “Seriously? Why?”

“She’s always had a fascination releasing the human hormone, adrenaline. Are you not the same?”

Amanda shook her head. “No, no way. I like to keep my feet on the ground, where they belong, thank you very much.”

Sarek sighed, obviously annoyed. He scaled the ladder quicker than any human could’ve, and gracefully pulled himself back up onto the balcony. Amanda sighed with relief. He had come to his senses. Then he scooped her up and slung her onto his back. “Hold on tight.” And he sprung himself back onto the ladder, Amanda squeezing her arms around his neck so tight it would cause a human to pass out, and her legs wrapped around his waist so they wouldn’t flail around wildly. “Ready?”

And that was the only warning he gave before he began their descent. Dropping a few floors, grabbing on, dropping, grabbing, dropping, grabbing. Amanda’s heart was beating so fast she thought it was going to explode. Her eyelids were squeezed shut, but each fall still took her breath away. When they got out of this situation, Amanda was going to give ptl Sarek a piece of her mind.


	16. Stardate 2258.49

Stardate 2258.75

Amanda was pacing back and forth impatiently in the room. After everything that had happened, Spock and Kirk had a lot to talk about. There were still several Epoch Brokers loose on the starship, with no way to track them down. The only thing on their side was that they had the leader of the group bound up and still unconscious. 

Amanda knew that it was technically none of her business, and that Kirk was the captain and Spock was his first officer, so it was their choice when it came to the Enterprise. But it still pissed her off a little that she wasn’t being included in the discussion. She had been ready to sacrifice herself for everyone on this ship, not to mention that she was the target of these aliens. But instead, she had been herded to a higher floor, and into a large bedroom.

She sighed in frustration, and flopped down onto the bed. For a moment she wondered whose room she was in, and she decided to investigate. The girl needed to do something to relieve her boredom. So she leaned over to the nightstand, and began rummaging through the single drawer. Inside were some candles and a PADD. She couldn’t get into the PADD without the password, so that wasn’t much help at all. 

Amanda stood up, and went over to the closet. Inside were a few science blue uniforms, and the tight black shirts that went underneath. She spotted something shiny on the tall shelf, and she had to jump up to grab it. She snatched the corner, and when gravity pulled her back down, she dragged the object with her.

It unfolded, and revealed itself to be a satiny blanket. It was beautiful, with swirling designs and a shimmery surface. She frowned that style of stitching was very unique. Even in her own time, that kind of hand stitching was rare. She had seen her grandmother use it before. The old woman had even tried to teach her several times, and she was still barely getting the hang of the complicated needlework.

She gasped. She had never seen the blanket before, but for her to be able to recognize that rare design, it couldn’t just be coincidence. This had to be Spock’s room. It would explain why there were so many candles in the drawer, for meditation. She frowned. had she made this blanket for Spock when she was older? Because that would mean that she had stuck around on Earth for longer, and actually persevered through the strict lessons to learn her grandmother’s legacy.

She decided to explore the room further. Everything new that she learned about the half-Vulcan just made him more and more fascinating. There was a door with a little button on the wall next to it. The button was currently glowing green. Green always meant ‘go’, right? She approached the door, and it slid open.

Amanda shook her head. It was tough to get adjusted to such a futuristic place after just a few hours. One the other side of the door was a room that was barely recognizable as a bathroom. She pulled back the shower curtain (wondering why they were still being used forty years in the future) and saw two different settings.

One was obviously a water dial, but the other one was more like a light switch. Curious, she flipped it. Nothing happened as far as she could tell, so she flipped it back. Other than that, there was a toilet, a sink, a mirror, and another door. She swung open the mirror over the sink, but the medicine cabinet behind it was completely empty. She stepped to the closed door and expected it to slide open like the rest of the doors on the ship, but it didn’t.

She shrugged, and went back to Spock’s room. It was pretty plain, bare and boring. Amanda was a little disappointed. How could any kid of hers turn out so bland? Then she chuckled. It was still weird to think of that old man (old in the eyes of a teenager) as her son. Part of her was scoffing and not believing it at all, yet another part of her knew that the facts were true. She was his mom. Somehow. In the future.

Amanda wondered how long it would take the crew to hunt down the rest of those orange things. Spock said that it wouldn’t be safe for her to wander around until they were all caught, otherwise they could snatch her up and kidnap her. She wondered for a moment if there was any alcohol in the room, because she could potentially use it to escape if any of the Brokers found her.

But then she dismissed the idea. She wouldn’t be able to offer it in any way that wouldn’t sound suspicious, and besides, Spock wasn’t the type to keep his liquor stocked. She wondered if he ever drank at all. Amanda sighed. This was taking forever. She fell backwards onto the bed. Sure, she could be a little understanding given the situation, but still. How did they expect her to not die of boredom.

Her eyes flicked over to the screen on the wall when it blinked on. She twisted and rolled over onto her stomach, and supported herself on her elbows. There was an old looking Vulcan on the screen, and he was looking at her with narrow eyes. Geez. With what everyone always says about Vulcans not showing their emotions, all the Vulcans Amanda has found were all very open with sharing their feelings.

She raised one eyebrow. “If you’re looking for Commander Spock, he’s not in right now.”

There was a bizarre surge of pride that rushed through her at the thought that her son would be the commander of a ship. It was unreal. The edges of the Vulcan’s mouth slid up, just the tiniest bit. “I can see that. I can only assume that you are Amanda.”

Amanda tried to stand up quickly, but tripped on the edge of the bed, and landed sprawled on the floor. She stood up and brushed herself off, then gave the familiar looking Vulcan a hard stare. “Who are you?”

He chuckled. Actually laughed out loud at her. He was supposed to be a Vulcan, for crying out loud. “I believe that you have enough on your mind without further complications. Could you tell me where to find Commander Spock?”

Amanda shrugged. “Maybe. But it depends on who you are. I wouldn’t want any old stranger to be able to talk to the first officer of this ship. That just wouldn’t do.”

She folded her arms over her chest, and made herself look dignified. She tried not to think about the fact that this stranger had just seen her fall face first into the carpet. His smile grew a little. “You’re certainly an interesting one, aren’t you? Well, would it appease you if I tell you that I am an old friend of Spock’s?”

Amanda shook her head stubbornly. “Yeah right. You have absolutely no way to prove that.”

There was a whoosh behind her as the door slid open. She turned around and saw Spock enter the room. He glanced back and forth between Amanda and the stranger on the screen, assessing the situation. When he spoke, he addressed the elder Vulcan. “Ambassador.”

He turned to Amanda. “The captain is asking for your presence on deck E. I’m sure you’ll be able to find it.”

Amanda glared at both Vulcans. Nobody around here was going to let her be a part of anything, were there? Though to be fair, she was the kid that just somehow time travelled onto their ship. They had every right to leave her out of the important discussions. She began to walk in the direction she remembered the turbolifts being, and hoped she wouldn’t get lost along the way.


	17. Stardate 2218.49

Stardate 2218.49

They finally landed on the ground, and Sarek practically dumped ftl Amanda onto the ground. She frowned. She was almost fifty five years old, way too old to be doing things like that. But Sarek wasn’t done. He grabbed Amanda’s wrist and tugged her along as he ran at a speed that would have most marathoners jealous. “Where are we going?”

Sarek glanced at her. “They have to have arrived here in some kind of ship. And for that many beings, I heard several of them in the hallway, it would have to be a decent sized ship, the kind that could only be parked in the proper areas to avoid suspicion.”

Amanda gulped. “Why do we need to find their ship?” She was out of breath, and her lungs and legs felt like they were on fire. If she ever got a chance to talk to her past self the way Spock had spoken to his future self, she would tell the girl to stay in shape. This was torture. 

After a few minutes, Sarek seemed to realize that Amanda had reached her limit, and he slowed to a stop. She stopped behind him, and pulled her arm away. She bent over, trying to catch her breath. When this was all over, she was going to keep herself so fit not even the fastest alien would be able to outrun her.

They were only resting for a moment before Sarek tugged her along again. He had spotted the ship, parked in the middle of a random field. Amanda frowned as Sarek got closer, looking for a way to get inside. He pointed to the wide open hatch in case Amanda had missed it. He walked right on board, and Amanda really had no choice but to follow.

It seemed empty, but Sarek held up one hand, and spoke in a whisper. “There are still a few of them on board. This way.”

Amanda’s legs groaned in protest as she continued to follow the young Vulcan. He brought them to the bridge of the ship, and six of those ugly orange Brokers turned around to face them. One of them stood up, trying to look intimidating. Sarek wasn’t impressed, even if Amanda was a little.

The Vulcan shrugged casually. “What are you guys still doing here?”

They glanced at each other. “What are you talking about?”

Sarek widened his eyes, as if he was surprised by their reaction. Amanda was just surprised that she hadn’t passed out yet. “You mean you haven’t heard? Or are you purposely sitting around even as your captain is facing a most perilous situation?”

The standing one shook its head, and motioned for the others to follow it. “Will you watch our ship while we go save our captain?”

Amanda’s mouth dropped. Were these things seriously so stupid? How had they ever survived so long with such puny brains? Sarek nodded graciously. “Of course. She is safe with me. Now go and make sure your captain is safe.”

Amanda watched in shock as the beings paraded off of their own ship, and Sarek gave her a glance that was clearly amused. “Well then. That was a much easier task than I was prepared for.”

Amanda swallowed. “Oh, yeah. Great. What now? We can’t just leave-”

Sarek raised his eyebrows. “Why not? It would be the most logical solution. Since they are obviously after you, they will find a way to follow us, and we’ll have successfully led them away from all the innocent people who live on earth.”

The older woman frowned, and crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m still mad at you, you know. That was so dangerous, that whole bungee jumping down the fire escape without the bungee cord stunt. And then all that running? Are you forgetting that I’m much older than you, and human at that?”

Sarek shrugged. “Of course I can’t forget that you are so much older than me, just as I could never forget about my own Amanda, who is younger than me. And you are a constant reminder that she is not the one who is with me right now. And though that ‘stunt’ as you call it may have seemed dangerous, I would not have let you fall. And it was most logical, seeing as it was the quickest way to reach the ground. And if we did not run, anyone could have caught up to us.”

Amanda’s frown didn’t lessen. She was annoyed, and she wasn’t going to let Sarek forget it. And as much as she just wanted to get out of here, to go back to her own time, she didn’t want to leave this location. Earth was the only familiar thing to her in this time, and she didn’t want Sarek to take that away.

She was going to say something else, but Sarek had already walked away. He sat down in one of the seats facing the control panels, and his fingers flew across the buttons. Amanda slowly walked around the room, inspecting it closely. It seemed very futuristic, even to someone from forty years in the future.

Amanda wandered away, and into a side room. There was a door in it, with a security bar next to it. As she stepped closer, the bar automatically unlocked, and Amanda cringed, expecting a loud alarm to go off. When nothing happened, she glanced behind her, and then kept going. As she stepped inside, the lights flicked on, and she gasped.

There were rows and rows of shelves and cases filled with random baubles and useless pieces of junk. She walked up to the first shelf she saw. There was a cracked marble, and she slowly reached out and picked it up. As soon as she touched it, she felt like she had just been given an electric shock, and she didn’t even have time to pick it up. 

She snatched her hand back, and cradled it protectively. She went to look at one of the other display cases, and saw all kinds of random trash. Amanda was amazed. Not only were these Epoch Brokers very stupid, they also apparently collected trash.

She sighed, and turned to head back into the main room, where Sarek was still busy tapping away. As she turned, something caught her attention out of the corner of her eye. She went over to the shelf directly next to the door, and saw that like all the other shelves, it only had one item placed on it.

It looked like some kind of very old fashioned Christmas ornament. She gingerly reached out and picked it up. It was a little angel, no bigger than her thumb, and it was beautiful. Amanda sighed with relief when it didn’t hurt her. She decided that she liked the tiny doll, and slipped it into her pocket. If Sarek was so intent on stealing this ship, that meant that they were stealing all the cargo on it as well.

Amanda slipped the angel back into her pocket, then rejoined Sarek in the main room. He had a small frown on his face as he glanced up. “I’ve never seen anything like this before. If we want to commandeer it, we’ll have to talk to Brokers and figure out how it works.”

“Are you crazy?” Amanda hissed. “They’ll never tell us. They’ll kill us instead.”

Sarek shook his head. “Did you not just see how they believed me instantly? What’s to say I won’t tell them that I actually own this ship, or something?”

Amanda growled. “Well for one, you can’t lie.”

A familiar voice spoke next. “And for two, you can’t even tell when you’re being lead into a trap.”

Sarek looked up into the face of the captain of the Epoch Brokers, and sighed with annoyance.


	18. Stardate 2258.75

Stardate 2258.75

Amanda grumbled under her breath. This ship was too big, pointlessly huge, really, so it wasn’t her fault if the lifts were impossible to find. After a few minutes of wandering blindly she recognized the entrance to Spock’s room. When she got closer, the door whooshed open for her and she stepped inside.

Spock was facing away from her, staring at the screen, so he didn’t see her right away. But the older Vulcan, the one Spock had called ‘ambassador’ did spot her, and he must have said something to Spock. The Vulcan turned to look at her. “I thought I mentioned that the captain requested your presence on Deck E.”

Amanda shrugged. “Don’t worry, you did. But I got lost. This place is worse than that old labyrinth. You probably should have drawn me a detailed little map or something if you didn’t want me getting all mixed up.” The older Vulcan chuckled again, and Amanda placed her hands on her hips and frowned at him. “I’m sorry, but who exactly are you?”

He shook his head. “My apologies, introductions should have come first,” He glanced at the younger Vulcan, but when he got no objections, he continued. “I suppose you of all people should understand what I’m about to tell you. That I’m from the future.”

Amanda coughed to cover up a loud snort. “Yeah, okay. If you’re from the future then I’m the queen of Fartail.”

The older man bowed his head. “Your majesty,” he murmured. 

Amanda frowned. “You’re really from the future?” He nodded with an amused smile playing across his face. “Well, then I guess that makes you way, way older than me. By a lot. Because I’m from the past.”

He nodded again. “I know. My counterpart has explained the situation to me.”

Amanda’s eyes widened. “Counterpart? As in, you’re old Spock? Geez, I think that this room is full to the brim with a paradox waiting to happen. It kind of sounds like the beginning of a bad joke. A Vulcan, his older self, and his mother from the past walk into a room…”

Spock frowned. “It is strange, but I don’t believe that we all exist from the same timelines.”

Amanda nodded slowly. “Okay. Well, I think that I can officially file this away as the strangest, longest, most complicated day of my life. Any objections? No? Good.” She took a deep breath. “This is all so crazy.” She looked up at the ambassador. “Well, you’re old and wise, or something, and you’ve obviously gotten around to doing a little time travelling yourself, so how about you tell me how to get back to when I belong?”

The older Vulcan frowned. “Unfortunately, I did not come to this time by choice, I went through a black hole. I don’t think that that is really a valid option for returning you home.”

“Oh, okay.” She couldn’t help sounding disappointed. She had thought for a moment that there was a chance for her to actually return home. “What were you guys talking about while I was lo… er… exploring the ship?”

The ambassador looked amused again, darn him. She looked at the screen. She could see the resemblance between the two Spocks pretty easily, but she was having a hard time seeing any resemblance between them and herself. Even the younger Spock was too old for her to see any resemblance to Sarek. 

The younger Spock spoke. “We were discussing everything that has happened today. Including you coming here.”

Amanda shrugged. “Hey, how did I get on your ship anyways? I mean, we’ve already decided that I somehow travelled through time for sure, but why didn’t I just end up on Earth in the same spot that I left in, only forty years ahead? That would make the most sense to me.”

The ambassador spoke. “Nothing about this situation makes much sense.”

Amanda nodded. “Yeah, that’s true. So hey, new topic, this one is clearly overused. Um… how did Vulcan get destroyed?” When she saw the hesitation mirrored in both Vulcan faces, she quickly added, “But I know it’s a sensitive subject, so you don’t have to say anything about it if you don’t want to.”

The commander frowned a little bit. “It was… sort of an act of revenge…”

Amanda coughed. “Someone destroyed an entire planet as an act of revenge? What the hell? Tell me who the asshole was, and I’ll go kick his butt.”

Spock’s mouth quirked up a little bit at the declaration. The look in Amanda’s eyes made him believe that she would do it, too, if she could. “He is already gone, brought down by his own actions.”

Amanda frowned. “Oh. But how did he… you know… actually go about destroying an entire planet?”

The older Spock took his turn to speak. “He used a very dangerous material, red matter, that basically creates a black hole. He drilled into the planet, and then threw the red matter into the center. It made the whole planet collapse in on itself, as though it had taken on the properties of a black hole.”

The girl took a few deep breaths. That was crazy, that some psychotic person could kill an entire planet just for revenge. She tilted her head curiously. “What did… who was he taking revenge on?” The ambassador dropped his head a little. “What did you do?”

Younger Spock defended his older counterpart. “It wasn’t his fault. He was trying to save the planet Romulus from an imploding star, but he wasn’t able to make it there on time. He was only trying to rescue them, but the leader of the survivors, Nero, blamed him for the failure.”

Amanda shifted on her feet. “Oh.” She kind of regretted bringing it up. She wouldn’t want to rehash the destruction of Earth if that ever happened. Not that it would, no one would want to destroy Earth. Well, except maybe the humans. They certainly polluted the place enough to seem like they wanted to kill it off completely. 

There was an awkward silence between the three of them. Amanda plopped back down onto Spock’s bed. One of his eyebrows twitched, like he was going to raise it, but then thought better of it. She had a million other questions that she wanted to ask, but felt that now wasn’t the right time. Most of the questions were about herself, and it would be cruel to bring up memories of someone that the Vulcan had lost. Or would it be Vulcans, plural, since there were two of them?

Amanda felt glad that she didn’t have to face her older self, though. She could imagine herself being very condescending towards… herself. This was all so confusing. The ambassador looked a little sad. “I must take my leave now, I have duties to attend to.” He lowered his voice so that only his counterpart could hear him. “Take care of her.”

Spock responded in an equally low voice. “Of course.”

Amanda just rolled her eyes. “So you guys are whisper buddies or something? Crazy.”

The ambassador smiled. “Indeed.”

The screen went blank, and Spock shut it off. He found himself staring at his reflection. He could see Amanda in the background, though the curved edges of the screen distorted her image a little. He turned around. “Would you like me to accompany you to Deck E?”

Amanda blushed. “Yeah, fine, if you insist.” Spock felt relieved for some reason that she accepted his simple offer to help.


	19. Stardate 2218.49

Stardate 2218.49

Amanda wanted to turn to Sarek and tell him that he should have been more cautious, like she suggested, but now wasn’t really the time. She cleared her throat, then glanced at Sarek. He might be more diplomatic, but she was older and wiser. “Um, Captain?”

He ignored her, and spoke to Sarek. “So, now’s your chance to ask for anything you want in exchange for the crux.”

Amanda bristled at that. “Hey, I’m not some object that you can barter for. I’m a living human being. You can’t just make a trade.”

Sarek held up his hand to shush Amanda, and she bit her tongue angrily. Who did he think he was, telling her what to do? Potentially bargaining her away. Sarek felt a little stupid. He should have known that no one would believe the unconvincing Vulcan so easily. He glanced over at Amanda, and she had a sour look on her face that he didn’t recognize. He was actually kind of glad that it wasn’t a familiar look, because it meant that his Amanda had never really been too cross with him. 

“What would you do if you had her in your possession?”

The Brokers all chuckled and exchanged glances. “What would we do with her? What would we do with her! Oh my, you’re so funny! We’d put her in with the rest of our cruxes, duh.”

Sarek watched Amanda out of the corner of his eye. He saw her slip one hand into her pocket, and he wondered if she had thought ahead and brought some kind of weapon with her. Though she probably didn’t. He hoped that ptl Amanda would be more sensible when she grew up. Then he hoped that he would be growing up by her side. 

The Vulcan hadn’t seen the inside of the ‘treasure room’, so he had no idea how many of these crux things they had collected. But if they were as valuable as the orange things were making them out to be, then it could be possible for both him and Amanda to get away unscatched. 

He tilted his head in mock consideration. After a moment of hemming and hawing, he spoke. “I suppose I do have a price for you to pay if you want her so badly.”

The Broker Captain grinned widely. “I knew you would be reasonable. No, what’s the word? Logical. I knew you would be logical.”

Sarek saw Amanda tensing up, but he had no way to signal her and let her know that it was all pretend. Did she really think that he would actually sell her to these random aliens that have never even been heard of before? That hurt a little, the lack of trust between them. He wondered if ptl Amanda also distrusted him that much.

“Yes, of course. Well then, in exchange for the woman… I want every crux that you already have in your possession.”

The thing glared, or at least that’s what it seemed to be doing. “Are you joking? Why would we give you every crux that we own?”

Sarek shrugged nonchalantly. “I guess I misunderstood when you spoke of how valuable she is. My mistake. I guess I’ll take my leave now, with my crux. I’m sure that my good friend Captain Puruori would be perfectly willing to give me a better deal.”

Amanda shot him the death glare, and he felt more afraid of her wrath than of these Epoch Brokers who got drunk too easily and didn’t have a very intimidating stare. The captain frowned as he considered that. “Why shouldn’t I just detain you both, kill you, and keep her.”

Sarek shrugged. “Well you could do that, it is your choice. I don’t think it’s the right choice, however.” Now here was the tricky part. He couldn’t straight out lie to these guys. He was a Vulcan, it just wouldn’t work out. But Amanda was human, so she could lie her face off if she wanted to (hopefully that wouldn’t happen, Sarek rather enjoyed her face where it was). But if she didn’t catch on, then she wouldn’t lie.

Sarek wished he had had more time to plan all of this. Unfortunately he was often prepared for falling directly into the traps of aliens. He glanced at Amanda, and the Broker followed his line of sight. Amanda stood there mutely for a moment, which Sarek expected. She had absolutely no idea what he wanted her to say.

He was about to give up and admit that he had no clue what he was doing, but Amanda began to speak. “Um, I’m a human, and humans cannot lie.” Sarek thought that was an interesting lie to start with. “The thing is… Vulcans are invincible.”

The Broker frowned. “What do you mean?”

She gulped. “They cannot be killed, so you would not be able to kill him, and he would be able to easily escape. But you would not be able to just leave him behind because Vulcans can read minds, and he’s had more than enough time to figure out your destination. He’ll follow you across the galaxy, and you’ll eventually get tired and slip up, and then when you least expect it,” She slammed her hand against the wall, and Sarek noted with satisfaction that all the Brokers jumped at the noise. “Bam! He’ll catch up to you. And then you’ll wish that were a universe away from his wrath. Are you willing to risk angering him?”

Sarek thought that that was a very interesting story, but surely these things weren’t so stupid that they would know nothing of humans, right? Most people knew humans specifically by their reputation to lie, and these guys should be no different.

But the captain nodded slowly, a yellowish tint creeping across his orange face. “That does sound like he would go through a lot of trouble to find you. But how do I know that you’re not lying?”

Amanda shrugged. “I already told you, humans can’t lie.”

The captain’s eyes narrowed. “I thought it was the other way around. Vulcans can’t lie, but humans lie until they are blue in the face.”

Amanda shook her head and scoffed like that was the most ridiculous idea she had ever heard before. “No, silly. It’s Vulcans who can lie as much as they want. You heard him earlier, he said that your rival is his good friend, when there is no way that they ever could have met before.”

The captain’s face softened. “I suppose that is true. Well, if you can’t lie, then I guess I have to believe you. So the only way to prevent the scenario you just provided is to hand over every crux we own, or to let both of you walk? I don’t like the sound of either of those options.”

Amanda smiled sadly. “‘Parting is such sweet sorrow’, but I fear that it’s true, those are our only options. What do you say?” Amanda felt fear coil in her stomach. She couldn’t tell what the captain was going to pick, and she wished that she could read minds too.


	20. Stardate 2258.75

Stardate 2258.75

Spock glanced behind him to make sure Amanda hadn’t lagged behind. She was clearly the curious sort, and if he didn’t keep a close eye on her, then she would probably wander off, and she would get lost all over again. It was a good thing that he thought to look back, because she was falling way behind as she stopped to stare at every little aspect of the ship. It was all so fascinating to her, though Spock couldn’t recall his own mother ever having any feelings other than indifference towards starships.

“Amanda.” She glanced up, and saw the distance between them.

She laughed and ran forward to catch up with her tour guide. “Whoops, my bad. It’s just that this ship is so interesting. There’s nothing like this in my time.”

They got to Deck E, and at the end of the hallway outside the lift was the captain and a few red shirted ensigns. They were discussing something with very serious looks on their faces, but as soon as they heard the lift door open, the conversation ended. Amanda rolled her eyes. Did they really still not trust her, or was this about something else?  
The captain nodded. “Spock. Thanks for getting her here.” He turned to Amanda. “Is it okay if we talk somewhere private?”

Amanda started to glance at Spock, as if to ask for his approval, but then she stopped herself. That was weird. Why would she ever look to Spock for approval? She might be the younger version of his mom, but since she was the younger version, she had no connection with the half Vulcan.

She nodded at Kirk. “Yeah, sure.” He led her to a side room, and looked apologetic.

“Listen, I know that this whole situation is tough on all of us. Especially you, though, since you were thrown out of everything familiar to you, and into a world full of technology you’ve never seen before, and people that haven’t even been born yet. Earlier, when I asked if you wanted to speak with Ambassador Sarek, I don’t recall you ever giving me an answer.”

Amanda raised one eyebrow. “Yeah, because that red alert happened, remember? Were you not on the same ship as the rest of us?”

Kirk shook his head. “No, I know. I understand. But now I have to ask you again. I’m not sure how, but he was somehow informed of your presence on the Enterprise.”

Amanda looked panicked. “You have a leak in your operations?”

The captain shook his head with a soft laugh. “No, it’s nothing like that. Trust me, if there was any sort of breach in the security around here, I would be the first to know about it, and you would be the second. It seemed to be more like some kind of feeling he had. You guys must have been close.”

Amanda’s eyes widened. For Sarek to detect her presence, even though she wasn’t the Amanda he knew at all, most likely, they would have had to have been very close. As in, they bonded. She gulped. Sarek had lost his bond mate, then, and not just a wife. He must have been devastated.

“Captain… For him to have somehow known that I would be aboard this ship, even though there’s obviously no way to predict something like that in a situation like this, his Amanda would have had to have been his bondmate. The loss would have been crippling. For me to just show up out of nowhere, with the full intentions of returning to my home as soon as possible, well, it would just be cruel.”

Kirk nodded. “I understand. So what should I tell him, then? Do you think that I should lie and say that you are not on this ship? That he’s just some crazy old man having strange dreams about his late wife?”

Amanda shook her head, and groaned. “Oh, I don’t know. You’re supposed to be the leader of this damned ship, not me. I just know that I can’t talk to him.”

The captain raised one eyebrow. “Really? Why not?”

Amanda shrugged. “Well, I really to think it would be bad for his emotional stability, to set up his hopes. He wants his wife Amanda, not some kid who doesn’t know anything about anything in this place. And if he sees me, I know he’ll be sad. But I also know that I’ll be sad. I’ll be constantly wondering how many different ways I could mess everything up completely and not get to spend my life with Sarek after all.” She took a deep breath. “It’s not bad to be scared. It means you’re smart enough to realize that not every situation is going to be super easy to get through.”

Kirk nodded. “You know, considering how much you’re preaching about how you're still a child, you can be pretty mature sometimes, more so than any other kid I’ve ever seen before.”

Amanda smiled awkwardly. “Well, I would certainly hope so, considering the fact that me and Sarek were literally in the middle of running away together when all of this happened. It takes a mature person to be able to leave behind everything they’ve ever known just to be with the person they love.”

Kirk smiled sadly. “Wow, I never thought of it that way before. Running away together? I wonder why I don’t get that impression from the Ambassador Sarek that he’s the sort to get so passionate he would be desperate enough to run away?”

Amanda shrugged. “Maybe it’s because there are some things that are so very different between my reality and yours. I mean, apparently in this universe me and Sarek never met until I was already much older, but in my universe we obviously met when we were still young. So maybe there are other differences to. Like maybe since they met when they were older they didn’t feel like running away was their only viable option.”

Kirk nodded. “Ah, yes, that does make sense. But I still don’t know what to tell the ambassador.”

Amanda frowned. “I don’t know. Why don’t you just try telling him that the only passenger on the Enterprise right now is just a fifteen year old girl. Then you wouldn’t be lying, but he wouldn’t suspect that I’m Amanda.”

Kirk coughed. “Fifteen? How old is your Sarek?”

“Well, in Earth years, nineteen.”

Kirk’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. “Jesus, that guy’s a bit of a cradle robber, don’t you think?”

Amanda narrowed her eyes. “No, there’s nothing wrong with finding love when you’re still very young. In fact, it’s the best possible option, because then you get to spend time with the one you love for much longer than if you had met later in life.”

Kirk nodded. “Right. Well, you should probably not be in here when I make the transmission, just to be sure he doesn’t spot you. Though he probably wouldn’t recognize you, if you’re this adamant about not talking to him, then we shouldn’t underestimate the senses of a full Vulcan.”

Amanda nodded and scurried out of the room.


	21. Stardate 2218.49

Stardate 2218.49

The Epoch Broker let out a huge sigh, then frowned. “Why would you be trying to defend the guy who’s selling you off to us? That just doesn’t make any sense.” He took a step closer. “I don’t particularly like things that don’t make sense. But even more than that, I absolutely despise liars. Are you a liar?”

Amanda gulped. She shook her head, keeping a blank look on her face. She had faced plenty of aliens before in her lifetime, so there was no reason for this incident to be any more frightening than the others. She cleared her throat and shook her head. “No, why would you think I’m a liar?”

The Broker narrowed his eyes. At least, it looked like he was narrowing his eyes, but it was kind of difficult to tell. “You are trying to pull some kind of trick, and I can’t stand tricky people. So why don’t you just hand yourself over, and we’ll let your boyfriend go.”

Sarek pouted to himself. He didn’t want to be ftl Amanda’s boyfriend, he wanted to be his Amanda’s boyfriend. But he chose not to say anything, because Amanda was screwing the situation up well enough on her own, and didn’t really need his help with that. She took a few steps back, to put some space between the aliens and herself.

Amanda pulled out the angel, and watched as the Broker’s all stared at it with a greedy expression. “This is a crux, right? And you guys want it?” She raised her other hand to grab the angel’s head. “If you don’t back off right now, I’ll snap this thing in half.”

The captain sneered at her. “Go ahead. Breaking it won’t take away any of its temporal power. You have no leverage, and this act of desperation proves that you were lying when you tried to support the Vulcan.” He nodded at two of his men. “Grab her.”

Amanda wasn’t really in the mood to be taken hostage by these guys. She wanted to belief that they were bluffing about the value of the crux changing with it’s condition. She was vaguely aware of Sarek grabbing her arm as she snapped it in half.

A strange blue dust spilled out of the apparently hollow relic, and both the human and the Vulcan began coughing as it rose up and filled their lungs. The Brokers had such a look of surprise on their faces, like they really didn’t know of any consequences that went with breaking cruxes.

The Brokers suddenly disappeared, and Amanda had no idea where they were. It was all a hazy blur, dark blue and purple streaking past them, like they had fallen onto a canvas while it was still being painted. She felt a slight tug, and realized that Sarek was pulling on her, leading her somewhere in particular. “What are you doing?” Her words were swallowed up by the vast space around them, and she wasn’t sure whether the Vulcan had heard her or not.

A bright light began to fill everything, and Amanda had to shut her eyes to keep out what felt like the entire sun beaming in her face. The pressure on her wrist disappeared, and she could see that the light blinked away, through her eyelids.

She opened her eyes, and blinked a few times. She looked around, and the first thing she saw was Sarek standing up and brushing blue dust off the back of his legs. She stared at him with an open mouth. He looked around, and Amanda noticed the way his eyes widened infinitessimally, showing his shock. He hadn’t known where they were going. “Did you bring us here?”

Sarek raised one eyebrow. “I felt… something familiar in this direction, so I pulled us here.”

Amanda nodded. “Yes, of course. The universe makes sense now.” She looked around the room they were in. It was pretty bare, some crates stacked around, probably just a storage closet or something. “So where exactly are we?”

Sarek shrugged. “I don’t know. But wherever we are, we’re in the right place, I know that much.”

Amanda rolled her eyes. “The right place for what?”

Sarek shrugged again. He walked over to the door, and he watched in surprise as it whooshed open on his own. “Huh. Perhaps rather than where are we…”

They stepped out into the hallway, and even if Amanda didn’t recognize the exact one they were on, she knew they were on a starship. From her time. Her voice was an awed whisper. “...but when are we..?”

Sarek looked around. He seemingly picked a direction at random, and began walking. As they went, they couldn’t help noticing the destruction around the ship. It was rather unnerving. At one point, they passed what looked like the med bay, but it had a bed sticking through one of the glass doors, and the place looked abandoned. 

There was a gasp, and Sarek heard it first, the sound of footsteps. He motioned for Amanda to stay where she was. He was pretty sure that this was a federation ship, but it could belong to someone else, or just be stolen. Sarek rushed forward as soon as he saw the approaching person, and he scooped ptl Amanda up into a giant hug. 

They stayed together for a while, until ftl Amanda cleared her throat, feeling awkward. The two separated, and ftl Amanda’s eyes widened as she looked down at her younger self. Sure, there were a few minor differences, but she could still recognize the younger girl. Ptl Amanda looked at Sarek with furrowed eyebrows. “I don’t understand. How did you get there. And who’s that?”

Sarek detected the hint of jealousy in the girl’s voice. “Your future self. I’m assuming that she belongs in this time, since she ended up in your time, it would sort of make sense for you to end up in hers.”

Ptl Amanda’s eyes brightened. “This is crazy. I have to tell Spock! He thinks that she… I… er… she… died… But she didn’t, and that’s great! He needs to know now!”

Sarek frowned. “Who’s this Spock I keep hearing about?” This time he had the jealous note in his voice.

Ptl Amanda laughed awkwardly. “He’s… our son.”

Ftl Amanda shook her head sadly. “What happened? He thinks I died when I fell?”

Ptl Amanda shrugged. “I guess, if that’s a situation where you could have possibly died and somehow ended up swapping places with me instead. Come on, he’ll want to see you!” She looked at Sarek and giggled. “Um, the captain of this ship is speaking to the present version of you right now. Er.. the one that is from this time.”

Ftl Amanda surged past the young couple. “Well? What are you waiting for? I want to see my family right away.”


	22. Stardate 2258.75

Stardate 2258.75

Ptl Amanda tugged Sarek along, gripping his hand tightly. She was half afraid that she was just hallucinating, going crazy, and that she wasn’t really holding Sarek’s hand. It had only been a day, but it felt like a lifetime they had been apart. She had no idea how much worse it was for Sarek, who had lived for several days without her. And neither of them understood why such a short amount of time felt like eternity, when they had been separated for longer in the past.

Ftl Amanda followed behind them apprehensively. She knew why it felt so devastating to be apart from ftl Sarek for such a short amount of time, and she was aching to see him again. But much like her younger counterpart, she was afraid that this was all just a dream, and she was going to wake up in ptl Sarek’s room in the morning.

After a few minutes, ptl Amanda stopped, and she looked around with a puzzled expression. She glanced back at ptl Sarek. “I don’t really know my way around this ship very well, it’s only been a day…”

Sarek frowned. “Interesting…” He kissed the back of ptl Amanda’s neck. “We have so much to talk about.”

She smiled. “As soon as we get the chance.”

Sarek turned to look at ftl Amanda. “If our… your son… is aboard this vessel, then perhaps you know that layout?”

Ftl Amanda shook her head. “It’s a new ship, and I’ve never been on it before, I only know what little I do from my occasional chats with Spock.”

Sarek nodded. “Spock… like one of the earlier society builders?”

Ftl Amanda nodded. “Yeah, it was your… it was my Sarek’s idea to name him that.”

Ptl Amanda rolled her eyes. “This is so beyond awkward. Not at all what I envisioned for the day we ran away to be together.”

Ftl Amanda frowned. “What do you mean, ‘ran away to be together’? That never happened.”

Ptl Amanda shrugged. “Don’t ask me why anything is happening the way that it is. I’m not even legally an adult yet, so don’t expect me to know these bizarre universal secrets.” She glanced at Sarek. “You know… if I scream really loudly then I think Spock will show up, and then he can be introduced to you.”

Ftl Amanda shook her head. “Uh, no thank you. That’s a great idea, but I would prefer to wander around until we bump into some people.”

Ptl Amanda scowled. “This is why I never wanted to meet my future self. I just knew that she’d be a condescending jerk. I guess this means some day I’ll meet my past self, and I’ll be a condescending jerk to her.”

Sarek shook his head. “I don’t think you’ll ever be in this situation. As far as I can tell, the two of you are living on separate timelines, which is why you look different, and have different memories.” He lowered his voice. “And I’m really not sure that screaming for attention while in the company of two people who this ship would consider strangers is ever a good idea.”

Ptl Amanda scoffed, but she knew that was true. So she decided to lead them down the corridor that looked most familiar. After a few minutes, there was the sound of pounding footsteps approaching the trio, and they paused as they were surrounded by guards with their phasers drawn.

When they recognized the young girl, they turned their suspicious and intimidating eyes to the Vulcan and the older human. Ptl Amanda spoke quickly, wanting to avoid watching anyone get hit by the weapons, especially since she couldn’t see what level they were set on. “Guys, don’t shoot. These people are friends. Can you take us to Commander Spock, please?”

One of the guards nodded, and they all holstered their weapons. They began to lead the way to the room where Kirk was speaking with Spock’s father. Ptl Amanda was pretty sure that that was where they were heading, and it made sense that the guards would want to bring the intruder to their captain before anything else. Ptl Amanda groaned loudly. Sarek bent a little bit to whisper into ptl Amanda’s ear. “Long day?”

She sighed. “Oh, you have no idea.” She sighed. “This should be fun.”

Sarek gently reached over and brushed some stray hair back behind ptl Amanda’s hair. He saw the cut that was on the side of her head. “What happened?” He ran his fingers gently over the injury, the equivalent of kissing her boo boo to make it feel better.

She sighed. “Oh, this? I think I must have hit my head back in that transport shuttle or something. Either that or something knocked into me while the whole ship was being trashed and jostled around.”

Sarek frowned. “Really? What caused all the destruction around her, and possibly hurt you?”

Ptl Amanda took a deep breath, and let it out. “Believe it or not, it was some weirdo species that I’ve never even heard of before, and neither has anyone else on this ship that is from the future. They call themselves Epoch Brokers.” Sarek’s eyes widened a fraction, and his Amanda recognized the look of surprise. “Let me guess, you’ve seen them too?”

He nodded. “How strange, that within the time that two Amanda’s have been mixed up, a previously unheard of creature appears. That can’t be a coincidence.”

Ptl Amanda nodded. “I know.” She tilted her head to glance up at him. “How did you guys get here, anyways?”

Ftl Amanda, who had been listening to the entire conversation, with lack of anything better to do, spoke up. “It happened when I broke one of the cruxes.”

Ptl Amanda craned her neck to look at the woman walking behind them. “Wait. Were the orange blobs trying to take you away? Because they were trying to take me away.”

Ftl Amanda nodded. “Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.”

They got to the room that ptl Amanda had left earlier, and knocked politely before stepping inside. There was Kirk, and he turned away from the screen that had an old Vulcan on it. Ftl Amanda ran forward when she recognized her husband. “Sarek!”

The Vulcan’s eyes widened a tiny bit. “Amanda…”

Kirk furrowed his eyebrows, and looked at ptl Amanda and Sarek. “Maybe we should go talk out in the hallway, and give them a chance to see each other. It’s been months… “ Once they were outside, he looked at the young Vulcan and human. “I don’t understand what’s going on right now.”

Amanda shrugged. “Neither do I, but everything’s okay since I’ve got Sarek back.”

Kirk smiled lightly. He could see that even though they were young, they were in love. The adoration in their eyes as they looked at each other wasn’t the type of thing that could be faked, or fade away.


	23. Stardate 2258.75

Stardate 2258.75 

Ptl Sarek and Amanda were locked together in a hug, and though Kirk found it to be adorable and amusing at first, it was now beginning to border on the extremely uncomfortable atmosphere. He cleared his throat, and the two reluctantly pulled away from each other, though the captain noticed that they were still standing hip to hip and holding hands.

He was a little amazed. He had never expected to see any Vulcan show so much emotion. He wondered if all Vulcans were so open with their emotions and facial expressions when they were still young. Amanda sighed, and laughed. “I never thought that I’d see you again. This is all so… amazing. It’s like someone’s looking out for us, and they wanted us to be reunited.”

Kirk shook his head. Even he wouldn’t have gotten with a fifteen year old when he was nineteen years old. It just seemed morally wrong or something. But it didn’t seem so bad with these two, since they were so obviously in love. But he still wanted answers. Kirk wanted to know why there were two extra passengers on his ship, even though technically there weren’t any more people than there had been before.

Sarek frowned thoughtfully. “I have been to many places throughout the galaxy, and I have traveled too far in every direction to believe that there is any higher power living above us. If there was, I’m sure that I would have bumped into him or her at some point.”

Amanda shrugged. “That’s not really the point, you know.” She sighed. “I think it’s lovely how much our older selves are still in love. I know we’re living on different timelines, at least according to you, but do you think that we’ll ever be able to just grow old together?”

Sarek hugged his girl again. “Honestly, I would have thought you would understand by now. Do you really think I would take you away from your home, ask you to leave behind everything you’ve ever known, when I was just planning on dumping you in a few days? I thought we knew each other better than that.”

Amanda laughed. “I just… I want that so much. I love you, Sarek, and I never want to be apart from you ever again!”

Sarek kissed the top of Amanda’s head, then stepped back and clasped his hands behind his back. “I love you too. I love everything about you. I love the way you call my name whether you need me or not. I love the way you are kind to everyone. I love the way your eyes glitter when they’re caught at just the right angle by the sun. I love your beautiful smile. I love your ridiculous laugh, and I love knowing that I was the one who caused it. I want to spend the rest of eternity with the person I love more than anything. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you be my bondmate, Amanda Grayson? Will you promise to share the rest of your life with me? Are you willing to forge a connection that no one will ever be able to break?”

Amanda nodded wordlessly, tears sliding down her cheek. Kirk sniffled, then turned away. He heard the sound of a passionate kiss, and decided it was time to leave the young couple on their own. He could always talk to them later.

Ftl Amanda stepped out into the hallway, and couldn’t suppress her gasp. She knew that ftl Sarek loved her very much, but she couldn’t remember him ever being so romantic. She was almost jealous of her counterpart, who would get even more of her life to spend with the man she loved. Ptl Amanda gulped and stepped back. There was a giant blush on her face. “Oh god, you didn’t see that just now, did you?”

The older Amanda laughed. “There’s really no need to be embarrassed. I am technically you, after all.” She sighed. “I can’t wait until my Sarek and I are actually reunited. A monitor screen doesn’t really do as much as you’d think they’d be able to by this time, though my stint in the past has raised my appreciation for all of the modern comforts that we have.”

Ptl Sarek raised one eyebrow. “That was an awfully quick meeting, considering how you’ve just been able to see your beloved again, after he’s thought you to be dead for while.”

Ftl Amanda shrugged. “He had to go, so he could leave right away and get to this ship. And we still have a problem, you know. If the Epoch Brokers have tried to take away my younger counterpart from this time, that means that there are at least some of these creatures in this time, which means that we haven’t outrun them as easily as we thought that we did.”

Ptl Amanda shook her head. “Who cares? Those stupid things can’t even hurt us. All we have to do is offer them a few drinks, and they seem to forget how to function in every single way possible. They’re complete lightweights, didn’t you know that?”

Sarek held his Amanda’s hand a little tighter. “We have indeed discovered that fact, but it is rather difficult to force the ingestion of alcohol to such foreign and intimidating creatures. Rather than try and figure out how to get rid of them, we need to figure out why they’re around in the first place.”

Ptl Amanda scoffed. “But we already know that. They want me… and my older self… for some reason. Something that probably has to do with the fact that we’ve traveled through time, I think.”

Sarek frowned. “But that’s not the exact reason. I want to know exactly what makes you so special.”

Amanda got even closer to him, if that was possible, and leaned closer to the Vulcan. Her voice was a sultry whisper. “I thought you already knew what makes me special.” Sarek pushed Amanda away, just the tiniest bit. He wasn’t sure how to explain to her that he could only mate every seven years, and he had been hoping that that conversation could be put off for another few years, until it actually became an issue for them.

Amanda stepped back on her own with a playful grin, letting Sarek know that she had just been joking around. She lightly punched him in the shoulder. “Come on, you have got to loosen up. We’re in the future for crying out loud, I don’t really think there’s anything we could do that would affect our lives back home. So live a little.”

Sarek shook his head. “I would prefer to live a lot. With you. In our own time. Is that really so much to ask?”

Amanda got a serious look on her face, and she shook her head. “No, sorry, you’re right. We need to figure out a way to get back to when we belong, but since you clearly can’t get rid of those Brokers by running, we need to figure out something else before we leave. Otherwise, we’ll just end up in trouble again.”

There was the sound of pounding footsteps, and an overeager Vulcan burst forward from around the corner. He had a look on his face that ptl Amanda hardly recognized, since she had seen it so rarely in her little time here. Ftl Amanda, however, knew what the look was, and she immediately recognized the face it belonged to. “Spock!”


	24. Stardate 2258.75

Stardate 2258.75

The four people now standing in the hallway together all seemed to be simultaneously holding their breaths in an awkward silence. Ftl Amanda finally stepped forward, and pulled her son into a tight hug. He seemed to collapse in her arms, or as much as a Vulcan could do something so emotional, and if they bothered to look closer, they could probably spot the watery edges of his eyes.

He broke off the connection and took a step back to study the woman. His voice was only a little louder than a whisper when he spoke. “Mother… you fell, back when our planet was destroyed. How did you survive?”

Ftl Amanda brushed Spock’s bangs back. “I don’t really know. I remember falling, and then I woke up in some awful wreckage, where I was discovered by a much younger Sarek. I had no idea that you thought me dead.”

Spock nodded, though he looked uncertain. He couldn’t think of any logical reason that would involve his current mother going to the past, and then her younger self going to her future, and then his father’s younger self going to the future with his current mother. It was more than just a little confusing. But he was grateful to have his mother back, and he would look into everything else later. 

He reached out to grab ftl Amanda’s hand. “There’s something that I need to tell you. I meant to say it before I left to go to the Vulcan Science Academy, but I assumed that you would… be around for a very long time, as illogical as that is, considering your age, and the average lifespan of humans.”

Ftl Amanda chuckled. “I believe that there’s a rule somewhere saying that you’re not supposed to call your mother old.” Then she took on a more serious face. “Spock, I know what it is you want to say. I’ve always known.”

Spock looked relieved for a moment, then he shook his head stubbornly. “Regardless, it needs to be said. Mother, I… lo…”

Ftl Amanda looked up, and placed a quick kiss on Spock’s cheek. “I love you, no matter what.” 

Spock nodded. “I… love you too.” He let go of his mother’s hand, and looked away. It was something that he had wanted desperately to say whenever he thought about his mother in the past few months, and it felt like a large weight had just been lifted off of his chest. But despite him needing to say it, he was glad that she already knew. 

Ptl Amanda cleared her throat. “Alright, now that we’ve got the awkward mother-son reunion portion of the show out of way, can we get back to my problems?” She glanced quickly at Sarek. “Our problems.” she amended.

Spock’s eyes widened a fraction of an inch. He hadn’t seen the younger version of his parents lurking in the corner, and a green tint colored his cheeks at the thought that they had both overheard that very personal conversation. Sarek gave his Amanda a stern look. “That wasn’t very polite, you know.”

Ptl Amanda rolled her eyes, because of course she knew. She had interrupted because she was starting to feel too emotional over something that didn’t technically involve her. She sighed, and took a step towards Spock. Sarek kept holding her hand, and stepped forward with her, though a few inches behind.

Ptl Amanda looked up at Spock, who managed to pull his mask back on, and his face was as blank as ever. She took a deep breath. “Spock, I don’t know how it is with my future self, how she’s always known. But I just heard that, so now I’ll always know, someday when I have my own Spock.”

Sarek looked a little shocked at that. He had accepted the fact that Spock was their kid easily enough, but that didn’t mean he wanted to go home and start popping out the babies. He tugged gently on ptl Amanda’s arm. “Don’t you think that we’re still a little young to be thinking about children? Isn’t it traditional among humans to wait at least another ten years?”

His Amanda rolled her eyes again. “I’m not dumb, and I’m definitely not having and children while I’m still a teenager. I haven’t even graduated high school yet! But that doesn’t stop it from being true that maybe someday we’ll want to consider having children.” She lowered her voice. “Sarek, I’m not sure if you’ve even thought about it or not, but someday I’m going to grow old and… die… and you’ll be all alone. I can’t leave you a perfect clone of me, or any kind of replacement, but I can leave you someone who can stop you from being alone.”

Sarek smiled softly, and ran his fingertips over ptl Amanda’s palm, in a Vulcan kiss. “How did I ever get so lucky?” He murmured.

Ptl Amanda grinned, then turned back to the two adults. “Well, it’s been real fun, but I think we seriously need to consider finding a way to send Sarek and me home. I’m not exactly thrilled at the prospect of growing up somewhere so... futuristic. And having my own live-in future self isn’t exactly living the dream. How did you two get here from my time?”

Sarek frowned. “We.. well, old Amanda broke one of the cruxes that she found lying around on the Broker ship that we unsuccessfully attempted to take over and use as an escape ship. Some strange blue powder came out, there was a lot of coughing, and then we were here, aboard the ship.”

Ptl Amanda frowned. “Breaking one of their stupid prizes? That’s a bizarrely specific way to be traveling through time. I mean, whatever works, right? You didn’t happen to bring along any extra cruxes, did you?”

Sarek glanced at ftl Amanda, since she had been the one to pocket the angel in the first place, and he hadn’t even known about that. She gave a quick shake of her head, and Sarek sighed. “I guess not.”

Ptl Amanda shrugged. “Well, we’ll find another way…” Her eyes seemed to light up as a grin stretched across her face. “You said that the powder was inside the crux, right? Well isn’t the reason that the Brokers wanted me...us… me… because they said that I was a crux, imbued with time traveling energy or something?”

Sarek frowned. “Did they really say that to you?”

Ptl Amanda shrugged. “I don’t know, I wasn’t really listening. But I think so. And if all you have to do access their time traveling glitter is break a crux…” She let go of Sarek’s hand before he could stop her, and she looked at the glass wall next to her appraisingly. “There’s already been so much destruction to this ship, I hardly think that a little bit more is going to matter.” 

She was going to launch herself at the wall, but Sarek grabbed her around the waist and held her in place. “I don’t think that that is a wise decision. Your older self had injuries when I found her, but I didn’t see any of that blue stuff in her system.”

Ftl Amanda shot Sarek a curious glance. She hadn’t had any injuries, other than momentarily appearing dead, so there was no way for him to know whether or not there was anything special in their blood or bones. But she recognized that he was just trying to keep his girlfriend from pitching herself through a glass wall, so she kept that bit to herself.

Ptl Amanda frowned. She didn’t recall having any injuries even when she was lying in the sickbay. Before she could argue the validity of her decision, Kirk walked over. His eyes quickly took in the scene before him, and to his credit, his man didn’t say anything about any of it. He cleared his throat. “There is another call from the leader of the Brokers. He wants to speak with both Amandas.”


	25. Stardate 2258.75

Stardate 2258.75

The two Amandas turned to look at each other, a questioning look mirrored between them. Sarek pulled his Amanda closer to him, and frowned up at Kirk. “Did they say anything else that would allow us to guess what their motivations are?”

Kirk shook his head somberly. “I’m afraid not. All that he said was that he knows we have both Amandas on board, and he wishes to speak with the two of them, alone.”

Sarek shook his head immediately. “Absolutely not.”

Ptl Amanda pulled away from him, and put her hands on her hips. “What makes you think that it’s your choice?”

Spock decided to speak up then. “Despite his emotion ridden response, Sarek is correct in that it would be illogical to allow any private meetings with the Brokers when we do not know what they want.”

Ptl Amanda rolled her eyes. “Geez, I thought you were supposed to be smart. We already know that they want me… us… me… because the whole time travel thing. There’s no way that they’ve suddenly changed their mind.”

Sarek sighed. “Then that would make it very unsafe for you to meet with the leader. He most likely has a plan that will allow them to capture both of you.”

Ptl and Ftl Amanda both shared a look. They weren’t going to let their Vulcans stop them. Amanda was a very independent person, and she could look after herself. Ptl Amanda cleared her throat. “Captain, take us to the room with the transmission in it. Please.”

Kirk glanced at his First Officer, trying to gauge his reaction. But even he knew that ultimately, it was Amanda’s decision. That wasn’t going to stop him from trying to keep her from going, though. “Mother. You have just returned after an absence of three months. I believe that it would be… illogical for you to be put into a situation that you potentially cannot walk out of again.”

Ftl Amanda hesitated, then sighed and nodded her agreement. “I know that what you’re saying is that you don’t want to lose me again after just getting me back. And you should know that I also don’t want to be taken away from my family again. I’ll stay.”

Ptl Amanda got a really determined look on her face. “Well, at least one of us should go and see what the man… thing… wants. And if it’s not going to be you, then I guess that only leaves me.”

Sarek shook his head. “But we’ve only just been reunited.”

Ptl Amanda frowned. “We were only apart for a day.” She looked at Kirk. “Lead the way, Captain.”

Sarek grabbed his Amanda’s arm. “Please don’t go. Or at least let me go with you.”

Amanda pulled her arm away. “Sarek, I love you. And if you love me enough to want to bond, then you have to trust me, okay?”

The Vulcan only nodded after a few minutes had passed, and even then it was reluctantly. Amanda grabbed his hand in a brief Vulcan kiss, then pulled away, and followed Kirk as he led her to the room where the Epoch Broker’s leader was digitally waiting. She motioned for old Amanda to at least walk with her, and after a moment of hesitation, ftl Amanda followed. 

When they were a little further down the hallway, ptl Amanda came to a halt. She glanced at Kirk with one eyebrow raised. “Can you give the two of us just a moment of privacy? I know that time is of the essence; I promise we’ll be quick.”

Kirk nodded and moved further away so that the two Amandas were alone in an alcove. Ftl Amanda looked at her younger self curiously. “Why did you want to speak with me in private?”

Ptl Amanda frowned. “I’m going to be honest here, I’ve never believed in the infinite universes theory. I’ve always been more of a closed time loop person myself. What about you? What do you believe in?”

For a moment it seemed like the older woman wasn’t going to say anything, but then she let out a short laugh. “Alright, you got me. We are living out the same timeline as each other. I can remember when I was younger and I first saw this ship. I was so impressed to learn that my son would be the commander of it.”

“So why did you straight up lie to Sarek to make it seem like we were from alternate dimensions, or whatever?”

Ftl Amanda sighed, and her shoulders slumped forward. “You are still so young. There are two reasons for the deception. The first is that Sarek and I did first meet as teenagers. But that wouldn’t look very good to those who look up to Sarek. So at first we attempted to pretend we were friends for years, but then it simply became easier to omit the fact we knew each other at all when we were younger. The second reason is my own, and as my older self never told me, I will not tell you. It’s one you must figure out on your own.”

Ptl Amanda nodded once. “Alright, cool, glad we got that all squared away. You can go back to Spock now. We both know he is very uncomfortable with the thought of you being out of his sight.” The older Amanda gave a curt nod, then turned and began walking back. Ptl Amanda quickly found Kirk. “Alright, I’m ready. Let’s go.” Kirk tilted his head curiously, but didn’t say anything, and simply led Amanda to to their destination. 

Kirk watched the teen step inside the room, and he closed the door behind her. He was waiting right outside in the hallway, ready to jump in if anything happened. Amanda stared up at the ugly orange thing on screen. “Sorry, but my counterpart is currently unavailable. Is there anything that I can assist you with?”

The Broker smiled strangely. “Yes, as a matter of fact, there is. When my men infiltrated your ship, one of them had a duty that involved avoiding the entire scuffle. He located the key points around the Enterprise, and placed a special explosive at each one. We were planning on just blowing up the ship and taking your corpses, but that would be so unpleasant. All of those unnecessary innocent lives lost, and the only living cruxes would be dead. So I’ve decided to offer you a deal. You hand yourself over, and everybody lives.”

There was a muffled thump in the background, and the leader turned around to see what was the cause of the distraction while he was in the middle of such an important negotiation. Amanda’s eyes widened when the newcomer came into the same room as the leader, entering the viewpoint of the camera.

It was a familiar face. He was younger, much younger than Amanda recalled, but that made sense, since the Brokers could time travel and could have snatched him from any point in time. It was Vincent, the librarian from Sarek’s building in 2218. He was kicked down by the Broker behind him, and ended up sprawled in an undignified heap on the floor.

He looked up, and it took a few moments, and Amanda couldn’t see any flash of recognition run through the young man’s eyes. He couldn’t be any older than eighteen or nineteen, and Amanda was afraid that the next sound she was going to hear would be the sound of fresh new bones snapping in half.

The poor boy looked terrified, and he obviously had no idea what was going on. Amanda put on her best stern face. “What the hell? He has nothing to do with any of this!”

The leader shrugged. “Even once you’re in my possession, there is still the chance that you will try to rebel and escape. This boy is my insurance policy, because I know you wouldn’t leave, knowing what that would mean for this perfectly innocent man that you actually know. So, what do you say?”

Amanda looked down at the ground, and tried to think about everything. She knew that Sarek would be pissed, and probably Spock and Ftl Amanda too. After all, she was about to do something that was completely reckless, and further proof of her youth. But she wasn’t going to let hundreds of people die simply because she was stubborn.

She finally looked up, after a couple minutes of contemplating. “Fine. I’ll go with you. How exactly do you want to go about this?”

The Broker smiled victoriously. “You know, we wanted your older self, since she seems to be the stronger crux between the two of you. But I have to say, she would not have been this easy to convince. I wonder what happens in your life to make you so cynical later on? Ah, no matter, though. Just put in the command to lower the shields into that computer.”

Amanda reached forward to comply, but then stopped. “Wait a minute… you can’t do anything to this ship while the shields are up! You’re such a fake!”

The Broker growled. “I may not be able to attack that ship, not directly through the shields, no, but I can kill this boy right in front of you, and it’ll be completely your fault, no one else to blame. So what do you say about lowering those shields?”

Ptl Amanda reached forward, but then stopped again. “I uh, I don’t know the codes. They didn’t have any ships like this in my time, and I haven’t had nearly enough time to learn everything there is to know about this particular model. Why don’t you just tell me what they are, and we can get on with this?”

The Broker narrowed his eyes. “You’d better not be lying to me, you lousy human. I just can’t stand liars more than anything else.” He turned to the young Vincent. “Well, is it true that there are no ships like this in your time?”

Vincent shrugged, a miserable look on his face. “I don’t just know random things, I never had any interest in space travel, so I never bothered learning about that kind of stuff before. I swear, I have no idea.”

Amanda rolled her eyes. She wanted to hiss that he was being such an idiot, and that he should have just gone along with whatever she might have said in order to keep them both alive. But she couldn’t do that without looking very suspicious, so she settled for giving him a good glare, and an eyebrow raise. He gulped, realizing that Amanda was angry. The Broker had no such intuition, however, and he chuckled. “Well, this is about to get real interesting.”


	26. Stardate 2258.75

Stardate 2258.75

Amanda frowned. “What do you mean by that?”

The Broker shrugged. “Here’s the deal, I believe you when you say that you don’t know the access codes. I believe you simply because it is your friend’s life on the line if you are lying, and I don’t think you’re capable of letting someone that you care about get hurt simply because you wanted to try and pull a fast one over me. But I still need those shields to be lowered if you want your friend to live.”

Amanda pinched her lips together. “You wouldn’t actually kill him. Then you wouldn’t have leverage anymore.”

The orange being nodded in agreement. “It’s true, killing him wouldn’t really serve my purposes. But that doesn’t mean he’s completely useless.” He reached down and snapped one of Vincent’s fingers, and it made a sickening crunch that was immediately followed by a scream. “If you don’t comply, I’ll break every digit he has, and then decide what to do with him next.”

Amanda wanted to punch that smug face in, but she couldn’t. Her voice sounded choked. “But I don’t know the codes! What do you expect me to do?”

The Broker shrugged. “You’re a smart girl. I’m sure that you’ll figure something out.”

Amanda sighed, then nodded. She took a few deep breaths to make sure that her voice sounded strong and sure again, and then she went out into the hallway, where Kirk was waiting. He stepped forward immediately. “Well? What did they want?”

The girl’s mind raced to think of something she could say that wouldn’t get Kirk suspicious. She plastered a grin on her face, and hoped that it didn’t look nearly as fake as it felt. “It wasn’t the Brokers who called. It was an old friend, Vincent. He got onto their ship in the past, and stayed aboard as a stowaway. He managed to overthrow the Brokers, and he called for help. He needs the shield to be lowered so he can beam aboard.”

Kirk frowned. “Why did he only want to speak with you or your counterpart?”

Amanda shrugged. “I guess because he wasn’t sure who to trust, but he knows me, and he knows that I would never do anything to betray him.”

Kirk went over to the nearest speaker, and rang in to bridge. “This is Captain Kirk. Lower the shields.” While he continued to speak with whoever had answered him, Amanda carefully grabbed the captain’s phaser, and tucked it in the back of her waistband.

Amanda nodded gratefully, and slipped back into the room. She stared at the Broker. “Now what?” Before he could respond, she saw the familiar white light that preceeded being transported. When the light disappeared, she was standing in the Brokers’ ship.

She spotted Vincent, and ran over to him. A Broker grabbed her by the waist, and held her up in the air. “Now that you’re here, we should be going.”

Amanda nodded, and went limp. If the shields weren’t raised soon, and Amanda refused to cooperate, the Enterprise would blow up, and take down everybody who was on it. The Broker set the human girl down.

She pulled out the phaser, and didn’t bother to check what setting it was on. She shot the nearest Broker, then turned and shot all the others before they even realized what was happening. Amanda went over to the screen and called the Enterprise.

Kirk answered the call immediately. “God, I’m so stupid. I knew that it was you who asked for the girls-” He paused when he realized that he was staring at Amanda. “What happened? What’s going on?”

Amanda grinned. “Give Sarek a couple of phasers, and beam him aboard. We’re going home.”

Kirk raised one eyebrow, but he turned away, presumably to call for others. Spock, Sarek, and ftl Amanda, returned with Kirk a few minutes later. Amanda tapped some buttons, and Sarek was transported to the Brokers’ ship. She looked at the screen. “Bye my future self. Good bye my future son. See you… well… someday!”

Sarek smiled. “I suppose we will see you all again someday. Perhaps meet with our own past selves. Who knows whether time works in a loop like that? I suppose we’ll be the first to find out.” Then he looked straight at ftl Amanda. “You would know if you had gone to the future when you were a kid. Did you?”

Amanda shrugged. “I have it from a very good source that you should never know too much about your own future.”

Sarek nodded. “Fair enough. And goodbye all the same.” He ended the transmission, and handed his Amanda the two phasers. “What did you want with these?”

Amanda grabbed one, and brought it over to Vincent. “Here. Help us take over this ship, and then we can bring you back to your own time.” 

Vincent scrambled to get on his feet, and accepted the weapon. Sarek kept the other one, and the three stormed the ship, taking the unprepared Brokers by surprise. They were the sort that thought themselves so grand that no one would ever be able to harm them, and were therefore completely unprepared for a hostile takeover.

Once all of the Brokers were down, the three argued over how to work the control console for a few minutes, before finally figuring it out. Vincent punched in the date that he had been taken from, and Sarek set the ship to warp speed. 

When they arrived at their destination a few hours later, they landed the ship. Vincent handed the phaser back to Amanda. “They don’t even make them in my time. It would be completely weird.”

Amanda grabbed his arm. “Wait. I think that you should make sure to never talk about Epoch Brokers with anyone. And I mean anyone. Even twenty years from now, or a hundred years from now. They’ll just think you’re crazy for one, but it could also destroy the entire future, or something. The Brokers are extremely dangerous, and it’s unlikely that these are the only ones out there. So not a word.”

Vincent nodded. “I promise, I won’t say anything.”

Sarek’s eyes widened as he realized that Vincent really had known something when he had asked about the Epoch Brokers. It was interesting to watch time unfold like that. He was curious though… He stepped forward. “Vincent.” The boy turned around, and Sarek leaned forward to whisper something in his ear.

Once the door was closed, Amanda turned back to Sarek. “I hope he really does keep his word.”

Sarek chuckled. “I’m pretty sure that that’s something we won’t have to worry about. I have it on good authority that he’s going to keep that promise for a very long time.” He moved back to the console. “Now it’s time for us to return home. Together.”

Amanda slipped her hand in his. “Of course. You may have the honors.”

Sarek inputted the date to return them to, and set the ship’s course. Sarek kissed the top of Amanda’s head as they watched the stars zoom past them. “I love you.”

Amanda chuckled. “I know. I can’t wait until we get home. Or are you still going to stick with your whole wait-until-Amanda’s-eighteen-to-do-anything plan?”

Sarek shifted on his feet. “You... “ He sighed. “I can’t really say no to you. One look from those puppy dog eyes, and I’m like a hormonal human teenager.”

Amanda laughed. “Is that really such a bad thing?” Sarek nodded. 

"Yes. And we are still waiting until you're eighteen. I wouldn't want my political life to be ruined because you were too eager." Amanda laughed in response to that, but didn't try to argue further. 

The shipped stopped way too soon, and Sarek opened the door. He motioned for Amanda to leave first, but she grabbed his arm, and they walked out hand in hand. They were on an old grassy field, and it was the middle of the night. She started to walk forward, but Sarek held her back. He pressed one finger over his lips, motioning for her to be silent.

Amanda complied, but still leaned forward to see where they were. In the distance, she could spot a shadowy figure beginning to stand up, and a smaller running towards the first. The voice was distant, but recognizable. “Sarek!”

Amanda raised her eyebrows, and darted forward, so that she would be able to hear better. She wanted to make sure that everything played out just the way it was supposed to, and that Vincent hadn’t messed anything up in his time, or anything. Sarek sighed, but followed behind her. He wouldn’t admit it, but he was curious as well.

The first figure scooped up the second. “I thought you were going to stay away. I thought…”

She shook her head. “No, I had to come, because I love you. I was afraid you were going to leave without me.”

The Vulcan smiled. “I would never leave you behind, my t’hy’la.” After talking for another minute, Sarek scooped Amanda up in his arms, and began to run. 

Once they were out of sight, Amanda looked at Sarek curiously. “Why didn’t we say anything? We could’ve stopped them from ever going through all that bullshit.”

Sarek’s mouth dipped down in the closest to a Vulcan frown that Amanda had ever seen. “If they stayed, then we would be in the awkward position of living in constant hiding in order to avoid meeting with our slightly younger selves. Existing in the same time as copies of ourselves would be rather difficult. And they would never get the chance to learn all the things that we have learned over the course of our adventure. Besides, I’m sure that there is a 100% of them making it through okay.”

Amanda tilted her head. “I’ve never heard you so sure of anything before in your life. How do you know that?”

“Because we are standing here right now, having survived all of it, are we not?” He reached down to grab Amanda’s hand. “It is time for me to bring you back to your home. We can discuss further traveling and adventures at another point, after we have both gotten the optimal amount of sleep.” He gave Amanda’s hand a light squeeze. “It is time for us to get back to our lives now. Though of course we will never be the same again.”

Amanda stood on the tips of her toes to give Sarek a quick kiss. “Alright, let’s go. Let our crazy younger selves have their adventure. And when they finally come back, they’ll just be us, right? Man, that’s so weird to think about.”

Sarek nodded. “Indeed it is.” He began walking in the direction that would lead back to Amanda’s house. “Now let us go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is the end. I think. I tried to wrap everything up in the best way I could think of, but if there’s any loose ends that you find, just let me know in the comments, and I will try to explain. Thanks to everyone who’s read and enjoyed my story :)


End file.
